The Destruction of Ranma Saotome - Detonation
by SkyStrider
Summary: The secrets of the Saotome family come out, and Ranma of Nerima has had enough. He pulls the plug on Ranma Saotome. So, who is the pig-tailed young man standing in his place? But Judge Sanu has one more trick up his sleeve and all of Nerima gets into the act to help answer that question. Also, Akane comes to an important realization…
1. Breaking the Pack

The usual disclaimer: Ranma ½ is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. This story was written for non-commercial purposes only.

This story is the third (and final) part of "The Destruction of Ranma Saotome". If you haven't read "Ignition" and "Combustion", I'm afraid "Detonation" will not make much sense. However, the tone of "Detonation" will be more like "Combustion" rather than "Ignition" (i.e. lighter and with more humor).

Fair warning: There are a lot of curved balls thrown in this story. Everyone gets surprised. Hopefully the readers will too.

Quick Summary: Genma has attempted to lock Ranma in her female ("Yin") form permanently using a potion that imprisons a dragon spirit. Ranma's spirit has beaten the dragon, but, through Otherworldly interference, the dragon was rescued and now infects Genma. There's a lot more to it, including a courtroom full of wannabe Ranma-in-laws, but that sets the stage. We pick up the story 30 seconds after Genma has foolishly called the dragon to him...

* * *

Chapter 1: Breaking the Pack

Sanu seemed to shake himself and then said: "All right. Let's recess for lunch. We will address Nodoka Saotome's divorce petition then and seek to resolve some remaining issues. Court is adjoured. Bailiffs, please stay in the courtroom and watch the panda. I need to see the Saotomes and the Tendos immediately." Ranma was impressed that the judge took his transformation and Genma's transformation in stride.

"Come here, young man, the judge ordered. "Let me get a good look at you."

"Yes, your Honor. One quick detour though," Ranma answered. He turned around and grabbed Akane lifting here over the half-wall of the audience seating. Ranma then gave her a hearty kiss, which she returned for a few moments before most of the audience began clapping and cheering.

Then Akane dope-slapped him and said: "We are in public, idiot!" She didn't fully release him though as he turned to face the judge with a slight smile on his face. The young lady walked with Ranma towards Judge Sanu. The couple had their arms about each other's waist.

The judge turned to the cheering audience and shooed them out by calling: "Out you lot! One hour!"

Most of them obeyed, although Doctor Ono called out: "Please, your Honor! Permission to stay with the families?" Sanu nodded and waved him to the floor. "We also need hot and cold water!" the doctor cried out over the din. One of the bailiffs left to get it.

Soon, the judge was left alone with the doctor, the two families, and a depressed panda. A handful of the bailiffs (and Ryuu) had also stayed. Ranma bowed politely to the judge while still holding Akane about the waist. "So, you're Ranma," the judge said.

"The Yin side is also me," Ranma shrugged. "This is the form I regard as my birth form, my Yang side." The pig-tailed young man gave a wry grin and said: "I'm getting use to who I am."

"A lesson many of us could take heed to," the judge answered. "Do you mind a little verification?" Ranma shook his head and let go of Akane as the judge accepted two cup of water. Two splashes later and Ranma's Yang side stood before the judge again. "Amazing," was all Sanu said as he handed the young man a towel.

Sanu turned to where Doctor Tofu was conducting an examination of the panda and walked over to him. The two families followed keeping slightly back. "Is he stuck now?" Sanu asked.

"I'm afraid so," Tofu answered. "I suspected that the dragon potion would backlash against the user, but I did not imagine it would be so complete." The doc sighed. "I thought Genma would be stuck for a month or two – give him a taste of his own medicine. But something interfered and boosted the backlash. It was like getting hit with the original potion and Genma doesn't have two magical curses like Ranma does to interfere with the application. He's taken a full dose of the magic. What's more, there's a Binding – a magical tie – between Genma and the dragon spirit. There's nothing I can do." The panda gave out a low moan at that.

"You just gave away a few secrets, Ono…" Nabiki said after observing Sanu's eyebrows shoot up.

"That's all right. He'd know something was up sooner or later – he's had dealings with my family before," Tofu shrugged.

"We'll discuss that later. So, that's it. Genma's cursed for the rest of his life to be a panda," Sanu concluded. He then asked: "How much of his intelligence is still with him?"

"His normal mind is sub-human to begin with," Nabiki threw out. The panda snarled at her moodily.

"Ms. Tendo…" the judge said with a warning in his voice.

"His mind is intact. He normally writes signs to communicate when he is in this form. His martial artist skills are still there too," Ranma said. "But some moves he can't pull off in this form, especially some of the more exotic maneuvers. You'll still need somewhere high security to hold him." The panda threw a dark look at his former son.

"Actually, no I won't," the judge disagreed. "Giant Pandas are not native here and stick out like sore thumbs. If Genma runs, he'll be captured and 'returned' to China – if Fate is kind to him. There is a greater chance that some poachers will find him and shoot him to chop up for illegal medicines, then add what's left to a private collection as a taxidermy piece." Genma's eyes became wide at that. "If he is returned to China, they will run tests to see if they can breed him. When they find out he is sterile, he'll become a liability. They won't release him to the wild for fear of introducing foreign diseases. The best he can hope for then is a backwoods zoo. Euthanasia is a more likely scenario." Now the panda began to shake.

"His best hope for long term survival is for us to announce that he was found in a private collection, but was sterilized by his owner. The Nerima zoo will hold on to him. The Chinese embassy will be notified, but it will not bother to investigate especially when told that the panda is sterile – unless he draws attention to himself, of course. Escaping or showing other signs of intelligence will get him noticed by the embassy who will investigate and demand his return to China. Then we are on that path to the backwoods zoo or euthanasia. If he behaves himself, he can have a roomy pen, a warm room to sleep in, plenty of food, and I can probably convince them to put in a television arguing that his owner had one in his pen and he seemed fond of it. It's your call Genma – you can walk out the door right now as a panda to be hunted, or you can accept the Nerima Zoo as your new home – they'd love to have a panda and you'll probably be treated well."

The panda held up a sign – "Is there a cure at Jusenkyo?" it asked.

Tofu shook his head. "No Genma. That potion was a nasty piece of work. You are an incredible bastard to use it. Then there is the Binding to the dragon spirit – the dragon spirit was able to affect a Jusenkyo curse. It will be able to keep the original curse no matter what you do, especially since you called the spirit to you by its actual name."

"Say what?!" the panda wrote.

"The dragon's name is 'Justice'," Tofu told him. "It was very smug when it gave me its name – it knows I cannot touch it. You demanded Justice and you got it. Someone set up a very clever trap for you. Since you intended to lock Ranma away for life, now you're locked away for life instead. If someone ever manages to banish the dragon, you'll die."

Genma switched signs and sighed: "Bring on the zoo."

Sanu called out: "Someone call Animal Control and take the panda somewhere safe. Bailiffs, please notify the police that Genma Saotome has fled the courtroom and is a wanted fugitive." Another sigh escaped from the panda causing Sanu to turn back to Genma. "Remember Genma, if you want to escape – just do it. My people will not stop you, so don't hurt them. But you'll never be safe again if you leave my custody."

* * *

Outside the courtroom, Toshio Kuno pulled out his cell phone and called his office. "Ms. Nakagawa? I want the Bio-hazard team to move now. Hit the Tendo residence, Genma Saotome's apartment, Genma's place of work and Genma's favorite bar. Swap out toothbrushes, clean shower drains, do whatever can be done without drawing overt attention. I want any traceable DNA remains of Genma Saotome to be removed or compromised. Also, order a squad to hit the lab where the DNA tests were done. Erase the results and samples for the entire family. If they ever want to do a re-test, I want them to have to obtain fresh samples and not be able to get Genma's human DNA."

Toshio listened to the affirmative answer and then asked: "Have we gotten a copy of that journal yet? Good. Have someone contact everyone that Genma cheated and who hasn't filed a lawsuit yet. Offer to do it for them. Explain upfront that they will probably never see a yen from it, but we don't want Genma to be able to show his face again without a long prison term and hefty fines. Offer to reimburse them for their time."

He listened again and then chuckled: "No, Ms. Nakagawa. That's not an easier answer. You never know what the future may bring and if I need someone, I don't want to have to dig them up. Oh! While I'm thinking about it, there's no need to tell Sasuke any of this. I know he has mixed loyalties regarding the Tendo family and Ranma. Let's not stress him out wondering what I am up to…"

Kuno left the alcove he had ducked into, never noticing a short Mediterranean man standing nearby. The little man made his way through the crowd to locate a blond European woman chatting with four young adults nearing their twenties. "Ciren!" he called out. "Could I have a word with you please?"

* * *

After the lunch recess, Judge Sanu called the courtroom back to order and then addressed the courtroom: "So, let's see if we can address a few other issues and then review Mrs. Saotome's petition for divorce since Mr. Saotome seems to have escaped." There was light laughter in the courtroom at the statement, requiring the judge to call for order once more. The judge turned to the gathering of prospective Saotome in-laws, noting that a few more were missing and a few more pieces of paper had been added to the list of complaints against Genma. He said: "The Court has limited ability to rule on marriage contracts, only to order the return of dowries and the like if the agreements are terminated. Mr. Saotome, would you like to address the court regarding these matters?"

Ranma stood up and said: "Yes, your Honor. All of these agreements were initiated without my knowledge by a man proven to not be my father."

"But he was your step-father!" one of the seekers called out. Sanu called for order again.

"He also made numerous agreements that cannot all be filled," Ranma stated. "However, those who wish to pursue an arrangement must observe a couple of facts. First and foremost, I am a male spirit. My Yang side is the dominate side. I will not couple with any man. I am attracted to women only." He glanced slyly at Akane, who blushed, and then continued: "Therefore I decree that any male pursuing my hand in marriage must be immediately castrated and prepare to undergo a sex change. I will also remind them that they will be probably rejected at a later time as I expect to father children. Nonetheless, is there anyone who wishes to take the first step?" Ranma pulled out a small knife.

One of the prospective grooms stood up angrily and smacked his father in the back of the head. "You are a fool, old man. You got cheated by a panda bear and now you seek to make the error worse? I'm done with this nonsense! There is no agreement between the families. That is that." He stormed out of the courtroom, followed by all the other bride-seekers. The appropriate fathers and mothers sighed and then rose and followed their sons.

Once they were gone, Sanu growled at the pig-tailed shape-shifter: "That better be a fake knife, Saotome." Ranma smirked and properly handed the knife to a bailiff who only nodded. "That's one, Saotome," Sanu said.

"Wait until you see number two," Ranma said under his breath. Ranma caught Kasumi's eyes and nodded, then grabbed a cup of water off the table in front of him. He stepped around the table. Out loud, he said: "Of course, you've got to wonder about the persistent fathers who think that their daughter's only hope for a marriage is with a proven hermaphrodite." With that Ranma dumped water on his head and Ranko smirked at the groom hunters with mischievous eyes. There was a collective intake of breath as Ranko stood there in a bikini. While it wasn't a string bikini, it left very little to the imagination. "After all," she continued while eyeing her prospective brides. "The documentation is pretty straight forward. I do have a GYN and have already had a mammogram – obviously many of you don't need one." Nodoka just held her head in one hand while shaking it. Kasumi and Nabiki had a good grip on Akane while whispering very quickly in her ears. Ryoga was prepared to grab Ukyo, but she just seemed to be looking at the ceiling, also shaking her head. Ryoga swore he heard her mutter something about dodging a bullet. Ranko continued: "Of course, it could be that they just want to have a *real* daughter and even a hermaphrodite is better than what they got. After all, I am far more beautiful than any of you."

Things immediately flew into an uproar. Several girls stormed out of the courtroom. A few burst into tears (while Ranko winced internally – but this was necessary she reminded herself). A few yelled "YOU BITCH!" and tried to escape their parents' grasp. The bailiffs had to deal with any who actually succeeded.

Ranko back-flipped away from them and caught a package Kasumi threw at her. When she hit the ground, she was dressed in her gi. She then had to dodge as Judge Sanu literally threw a book at her while yelling: "SILENCE!" Everyone stopped what they were doing. "THAT'S TWO, SAOTOME! THE THIRD ONE IS THREE NIGHTS IN JAIL!"

Ranko bowed deeply. "My apologies to the Court and to your Honor," she said.

Sanu glared at her again and then addressed the upset women. "You may want to think about this carefully, ladies. Are you sure you want to marry that attitude?" The perspective brides glared at Ranko and dragged their parents from the courtroom. In the end, there were three parents left – the ones who hadn't brought their children.

The judge turned to Akane and asked: "Are you sure you don't want to bolt too?"

Ranko winced as Akane relaxed and said: "I'll get even later, your Honor."

Ranko picked up the thrown book and walked over to the judge's stand. As she handed it back, Sanu promptly hit her over the head with it. "Do you have anything else you want to say?" he asked the girl. "Keep in mind that it is three strikes and you are out!"

"Yes, Sir," Ranko acknowledged. She walked back over to the table to grab the hot water. Nodoka took this opportunity to snatch her lawyer's folders and hit her daughter over the head as well. Sanu made no comment to Nodoka.

Ranma then turned to face the three remaining parents. "As I mentioned, it is impossible for me to fulfill all of the agreements Genma Saotome made. Therefore, to respect all parties involved, I must declare *all* of them to be invalid, including the one with the Tendo family." There was a buzzing about the courtroom with that statement. Akane looked surprised, but not upset yet, so Ranma faced Akane and continued quickly: "I also declare that I have already told a young woman that I love her and wish to court her. While I acknowledge no formal agreement between us yet…" Everyone heard the last word quite clearly. "I wish to pursue one as soon as this mess is cleared." Akane's face softened and tears welled up in her eyes – this was the first time Ranma had ever declared his feelings so publicly. Ranma finished: "Those who wish to stand in the way of Love have no Honor I need to abide by."

One rejected father stood up and said: "Why then, I'll just declare that the Saotome's have defaulted on their honor and declare a Blood F…" The man cut off as a Battle Aura burst brightly into the visible spectrum from Ranma as he turned to face the father. The young warrior looked at him and the older man saw his death in Ranma's eyes.

"Blood Feuds are against the Law of the Land and therefore dishonorable," Ramna declared quietly. "The Saotomes will not initiate any actions, but we will defend ourselves to the limit of the Law." Judge Sanu found nothing to object to in that simple statement.

"Not alone," Soun Tendo called out. The sentiment was echoed in many places in the courtroom, including from Doctor Ono.

The man looked at Ranma and sighed. "All right, you called my bluff. I release the Saotome family from Genma's false promise."

One of the two remaining men also stood. "I'm done. I'll add my name to the list against Genma. Have a nice life, kid." With that, he left and the first man followed him.

The last remaining parent started to clap slowly, the noise loud in the otherwise silent courtroom. Then he spoke: "Normally, Ranma, I'd let you off the hook. But this isn't about you, or about Genma, or even about Nodoka. But is about Honor, no matter what you say. I'm not sure if it will make you commit seppuku, but I know this will eat at you your entire life, and that might be the only revenge I ever get."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders – people seeking revenge against him was nothing new. "What have I ever done to you?" the pig-tailed young man asked.

"You?" the lone man said back. "Nothing at all. It's the Saotome clan I want revenge on, and you and your mother are the only exposed ones. Genma played right into my hand."

"Who are you?" Ranma asked.

"His name is Hajime Tanaka, Ranma," an elderly man said from the back. The man began limping down the stairs to the main floor, with a middle-age man helping to guide him. "He is my nemesis."

"Father!" Nodoka shouted out.

"Two hour recess!" Sanu bellowed out. "Clear the courtroom!"

* * *

A/N: Next chapter: The Holdout


	2. The Holdout

Chapter 2: The Holdout

"Ye gods!" Sanu muttered to himself. "Just when I think things are getting simpler, it gets worse again. This is like a Doctor Who episode." Sanu looked on as the bailiffs stood between Tanaka (the remaining parent), and an elderly man who was apparently Grandfather Saotome. The old man teetered a bit and relied on the younger man next to him for support. The younger man looked to be close in age to Nodoka and was wearing an immaculate three piece suit. The older man was dressed in fine robes that suited him very well. The Saotome Family Counselor, Attorney Miura was standing behind them.

Tanaka sneered at the old man. "'Nemesis' implies that I have some respect for you, Shigeo Saotome. I have none."

"And yet I am the reason you live your life," Shigeo answered him. "Without me, you have nothing."

"I have nothing because of you, old man! I will not stop until you do too!" Tanaka shouted.

Ranma seemed to be holding his head listening to them. Nodoka stood speechless until her father said: "Speaking of which…" Then he turned to her and grabbed her in a fierce hug. He said: "My daughter! Forgive me! I failed you completely! I had no idea of the burden you wrestled with every day of your life!" Nodoka's eyes went very wide and she seemed to shake. Then she broke down crying in the old man's arms. Tanaka's eyes widened and became confused. Ranma had more of a clue this time around, but his thought processes still couldn't get past the appearance of a man who apparently was his grandfather.

The old man's companion spoke up: "We should leave them alone for a few minutes. They haven't seen each other in over twenty years." Then he looked mischievously at Tanaka and said: "I must thank you for giving Shigeo back his daughter, Hajime. He has had nothing but your hate, and now he has something else."

Tanaka's eyes widened and with a snarl, he dove at the companion or tried to. Ranma effortlessly stopped Tanaka and spun Tanaka around to face him. "You can behave yourself, father-in-law-not, or explain to your daughter why your backside is up by your ears. Your call." Tanaka started to say something defiant until Ranma lifted him up one-handed by the front of his shirt high into the air with no strain at all. Tanaka's eyes widened nicely.

"Now, now, Ranma," the judge scolded. "If you kill him, I'll have to spend all evening filling out paperwork. I did let you pull those two stunts, after all. Show me some pity." Ranma dropped Tanaka disdainfully.

"Besides, his daughter is only eight years old and you really don't want to traumatize your future 'bride-not' like that Ranma," the companion said.

Ranma's eyes went flat as he looked at Tanaka. So did Sanu's. "I'll fill out the paperwork, Ranma," Sanu told him. They both started toward Tanaka.

"Whoa! Wait a minute! I never intended to introduce Aimi to you for several years! I just wanted to mess up your wedding plans now!" Tanaka said backing away from both of them. Suddenly Tanaka found himself hoisted upright into the air by his ankles. He looked down to see Akane Tendo lifting him aloft by his feet.

"You would use your eight-year old daughter like that? Lock her into a loveless marriage? Just for revenge?" she hissed. "She'll never miss you…"

"Stop! Hear me out!" Tanaka called out. "It's a matter of Honor!"

"Those who wish to stand in the way of Love have no Honor I need to abide by," Ranma repeated. "There are things far more important than Honor in this world. That was a lesson I had to learn the hard way."

"You have no idea what Honor is, Tanaka!" Sanu told him.

"Stop!" the old man called out. "Please put him down, Miss Tendo. He indeed has no honor. He married for revenge and had a child for revenge, but his fall from grace is due to me. Indeed, many people have paid for my pride, including my daughter and grandson. It has to stop. It's time for me to pay and I'm ready." Akane released Tanaka and he fell to the floor in front of her. The rest of the Tendos joined her looking at the fallen man. Ranma came over and took Akane's hand. Tanaka scooted back away from them all, bewilderment showing on his face.

"Introductions first," the old man started. "I am Shigeo Saotome, head of the Saotome clan in Hokkaido. This is Hayato Saotome." He indicated his companion. "He is the eldest child of my younger brother."

Nodoka stared at the companion. "Hayato? Is that really you?"

"Hello cousin," Hayato grinned at her. "A lot changes in twenty years. You are still beautiful though." The last part caused Nodoka to blush, something Ranma had never seen before.

"As I said," Shigeo continued. "The man on the floor is Hajime Tanaka." Shigeo sighed then. "Twenty-five years ago, he sought the hand of Airi Saotome, my eldest daughter."

"Hajime…yes, that was his name…" Nodoka whispered.

"I forbid the marriage because I disliked him immensely," Shigeo said softly.

Tanaka scrambled off the floor. "THAT'S A LIE, YOU BIGOT!" he shouted as he stood up. "You said it was because I was descended from the Burakumin!"

"No, that was the lie I told you. I should have been forthcoming with you. That was my first sin. What do I care if you are Burakumin? The Saotomes have some Ainu blood. We are of the North. The prejudices of the South are not our concern. No, I forbid the marriage because I thought you were a vain, stupid, and selfish man." The old man's voice hardened. "And you proved me right! You married a woman just because she was a full Burakumin and when your first (and only) born was a girl, you rejoiced! Not because the child is beautiful – and she is. But because she was now your weapon."

Rage filled Tanaka's eyes and he started forward, only to run into Ono's out stretched hand. Tanaka might have as well run into a wall. When he looked in the good doctor's eyes, he saw a warning there – one he felt he could not ignore. Instead he yelled: "What do you know of my family? You didn't even know your own!"

"There is truth in what you say, and maybe that was my second sin – or possibly the first," Shigeo answered. "But I know your wife and child very well. Not a month goes by when I do not visit them. The Saotome clan are your wife's biggest customer to that little shop of hers. We also encourage others to visit her; although, admittedly, that is easy to do as the goods she sells are of the highest quality."

"You created your daughter because of us," Hayato said quietly. "We will not see her abandoned."

Tanaka tried to rush Hayato, but Tofu picked him up one-handed and threw him. Tanaka landed on his rump four meters back. "You're way out of your league," Ranma told him.

"I digress," Shigeo continued. "He is right in that I did not know my own family. My daughter Airi truly loved Tanaka. Rightly, she didn't care if he was Burakumin. But had Tanaka married her, he would have become my heir, and I detested that. So I committed my third sin and had him kidnapped, severely beaten, and abandoned in the backwaters of Thailand."

"You do know I am a judge, right?" Sanu asked. The rest looked horrified at Shigeo.

Shigeo shrugged. "The statute of limitations has expired on the crime. (1) Tanaka never pressed charges, although he should have – I deserved it and still do. I paid for my crime though." He sighed again and said: "When I told Airi that I had driven Tanaka away, she killed herself." Soun caught Nodoka as she collapsed in a fit of weeping. Kasumi scrambled to get her a chair.

Tanaka did not rise from the floor, but began weeping where he was. "You stupid old man," he said under his breath.

"That is when my carefully constructed world began to come apart," Shigeo haltingly continued. "Due to the loss of her sister whom she loved, Nodoka's illness began to manifest itself shortly thereafter. I tried to have my remaining daughter marry well, but her behaviors drove the suitors away. I became angry with her and she ran away to try and make amends – right into Genma Uchida's hands, yet another stupid and petty man. He convinced her that he was of Samurai stock and knew if he took my name, he would become my heir, whether I liked it or not. He would just have to bide his time, so he took her away to Nerima, and away from me. So, began Ranma's entry into this world," Shigeo finished.

Ranma felt sick to his stomach learning his family history – so much lost due to pride. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up in surprise to see Maomolin in his human form there. Ryoga was also back in the room and a young woman was next to Akari who must be Chiyoko. Sanu was about to say something when Ranma stopped him: "This is Mao Molin," he said. "Please leave him and the rest of my foster family stay." Somehow, it helped to have them there – that and Akane's firm grip on his opposite hand. They were family beyond the Saotomes.

Shigeo continued: "Eventually, word of Genma's trip reached us. I tried to have him intercepted and steal my grandson back, but Genma was always one step ahead of us. Tanaka learned of Genma's dealings and decided to get his revenge on me by forcing Ranma to marry a Burakumin so that she would be part of the Saotome family and her children would be my heirs. Tanaka still believed my lies you see. He married a pretty Burakumin woman and had a daughter, although he doesn't see them that much. He then made a deal with Genma over some loaves of bread and sat back to bide his time. Now he's here to spring the trap and spread yet more unhappiness."

"So, here we are. I destroyed Tanaka, Airi, and Nodoka. Tanaka in turn is destroying his wife and daughter. He is also trying to destroy Ranma in the hopes of destroying me. But I cannot allow this anymore. Airi is beyond me and I can never repair that sin. The rest of you are salvageable. I am not." He then turned to Judge Sanu: "On behalf of the Saotome families, I formally request the return of the Honor blade Nokoda Saotome stole in her madness."

The judge answered: "Mr. Saotome, I cannot allow you to kill yourself."

"You misunderstand, Judge," Shigeo answered. "I need to surrender the blade to the new head of the family. I am to be punished for my crimes and relegated to outcast status."

"WHAT!" Tanaka shouted.

"You win," Shigeo told him. "I am disgraced."

"No! You don't get off that easy! You're mine!" Tanaka shouted. Then he got up. "You are all mine!" he yelled.

Shigeo turned to the judge again. "Judge Sanu, can the legally insane enter into any type of binding contract?" he asked.

"The insane?" Judge Sanu repeated. Then his eyes widened. "No," he answered firmly. "They cannot."

"Then Nodoka could not marry Genma, and Genma Uchida never became Genma Saotome. I have documentation showing that Nodoka has been ill since her early teens, even if she was undiagnosed at the time. All contracts made by Genma Saotome are invalid since he never legally existed," Shigeo concluded.

"It's not quite that simple. Having an anxiety disorder doesn't qualify you as legally insane, even if it manifests as OCD," Sanu disagreed. "But Doctor Ono's statement that the disorder also manifested as symptoms of schizophrenia does indicate that there may be legal implications that I need to consider. Especially since Genma was found to be sterile and not Ranma's sire. If he wasn't Ranma's sire, and he's not Ranma's step-parent, legally and *morally* he could not make any agreements on Ranma's behalf. Tanaka's agreement with Genma would be invalid in any sphere."

"But he is Genma's son!" Tanaka shouted."It is just his curse that's messing with the test. I demand you re-test his male form. I claim knowledge of a genetic abnormality that must be ruled out."

"You're not in a position to demand a re-test," Sanu told him. "We have enough evidence not to need a re-test."

Tanaka seemed at a loss for words, then rallied: "Fine. If Genma Uchida is not his father, then someone else can claim him, so I do. I demand a re-test to prove he is my son. Genma used my seed to impregnate Nodoka."

"How dare you!" Nodoka shouted.

"Prove me wrong," he challenged. "But I want his male form tested – not the female form. Once he is in CODIS again, then a match to his true father will show up."

"You're wasting the Court's time with this nonsense," Sanu stated.

"I claim Ranma is my son, and should be released to me," Tanaka stated firmly.

"If he's not" Sanu said. "Its sixty days for wasting the Courts time with false reports. Do you want to spend sixty days in jail?"

"I'll do whatever it takes to destroy Shigeo," Tanaka said.

"Obsess much?" Ranma asked.

* * *

Soun climbed the ladder to the roof looking for Ranma. He saw him on the far side, lying down with his head in Akane's lap, both of them watching the sunset. Ryoga and Akari were sitting next to them holding hands while Maomolin stood in his human form behind them with his arms about Chiyoko, holding his girlfriend rock steady as she leaned back into him. Maomolin turned his head and looked at Soun. The Bakeneko smiled in acknowledgement, and then he gently shook his head. Soun accepted the gesture and nodded, backing quietly down the ladder. The father decided he'd have a chat with Ranma and Akane later.

Soun walked into the kitchen. Nabiki sat having a cup of tea with Hayato and Shigeo while Kasumi took out plates for dinner. Hayato had ordered take out for everyone and it was due in about thirty minutes. Kasumi turned to look at Soun and said: "Please tell me you didn't bother Ranma and Akane right now."

"Maomolin was standing guard over them," he said. "I'll talk to them later."

Shigeo looked distressed. "You are not going to forbid their marriage because of me?" he pleaded.

Soun snorted. "I've been trying to get Ranma to join the family for the past two years. I'd told Sanu I'd take him regardless of his heritage. Nothing has changed. But I still want to talk to them about the future, and the discussion needs to happen."

"Father – you promised…" Kasumi warned him.

"I'll keep my word, Kasumi. They will marry if they want to, when they want to," he answered. Then his voice firmed up, "But your mother's legacy must be preserved." Nabiki's eyes hardened at that, but Kasumi threw her a glance and she let the matter drop.

Tofu entered the room then. "I've given Nodoka a mild sedative. She talked to me for quite a bit and I think she'll be all right, but she's exhausted right now." He glanced at Shigeo. "I did take the precaution of removing anything sharp from the room though," he said with a raised eyebrow. Then he threw a look at Nabiki and said: "And I found all manner of interesting things in your room when I was clearing it out, young lady. We need to talk later."

Nabiki waved her hand dismissingly "Most of those things don't work anymore, Tofu, and I haven't used them in ages anyway," she said.

"I wasn't talking about the spy cameras," he said sharply.

"Ah" she said in sudden understanding. "Well, that's another discussion all together."

Tofu then turned to Soun. "And before you talk to Akane and Ranma, talk to this guy first," he said while pointing at Shigeo. "He can tell you what not to do with your daughters – don't repeat his mistakes!"

Soun flushed and Shigeo dropped his head in shame. "I deserve that," Shigeo said. "Maybe we should talk, Mr. Tendo." Soun didn't say or do anything other than nod. Tofu let the matter drop.

* * *

Up on the roof, the three couples quietly watched the sunset. Ranma stored up the peace and quiet. When the last vestiges of the sun vanished, leaving the afterglow in the sky, Ranma looked up at Akane who had been stroking his hair and asked: "When we get married, how do you feel about adoption?"

She smiled at him. "What?" she half-teased "You want to adopt an 8-year old little Burakumin girl from Hokkaido?"

"Something like that," Ranma admitted. "Her father is as bad as Genma."

"Idiot. From what Hayato said, her dad has had little interaction with her, and her mother is a good woman," Akane told him. "She doesn't need us. Just declare an Honor Debt between the two of you and be done with it." Then she laughed, "Although I must admit that adoption would be the easiest way I've ever dealt with another fiancée rival."

"You've got no competition, lady," Ranma said reaching up to stroke her cheek. "Besides, I think Hayato is biased."

"Amazing. You noticed that did you?" she said archly.

"Just a bit – his description earlier of the mother was a little too glowing," Ranma said.

"You'd be all right with a Burakumin in the family?" Ryoga asked curiously.

"Wouldn't you?" Ranma shot back. "Besides, Burakumin is a matter of family name and residence association these days. Most people don't even pay attention to what type of work someone does – not that the job should make a difference either. Physically, you cannot tell them from 'us'. It's just a stupid prejudice. They are Japanese; there's no real difference."

"Actually, I would argue with that," Ryoga said. The rest of them looked at him. "When I was lost, I often found that the Burakumin were more willing to help me, especially in a small village environment. They knew what it was like to be an outsider, so they were more forgiving of my bumbling."

"Thank the gods," Maomolin said. "I'm glad I don't have to break either one of you of that idiocy." He helped Chiyoko sit down on the roof and then took his own seat.

Chiyoko chimed in. "My grandfather was very biased against the Burakumin and the Ainu. Mama always told him he was a fool. Her point was that their yen was just as good as any other and he should mind his own bloody business as far as what family name stayed with us – you couldn't tell them apart from anyone else."

"My mother was prejudice I think," Akari said. "She used to look down her nose at the butcher. Dad told me she was being silly. Someone had to clean and prepare the pigs and the butcher was an expert at the clean kill. 'Did I want the pigs to suffer?' he once asked me. He made a point of telling me he often shared a drink with the man when he went into town. Our butcher doesn't have a Burakumin name – his shop is not a hereditary business. He saw a need and filled it. The farm couldn't have livestock without him."

"Daddy never mentioned anything one way or another about the Burakumin or the Ainu," Akane said. "When something came up on the news about one of their political parties, he never reacted. Occasionally, there would be a piece about discrimination in the news and Daddy would mutter about fools and turn it off."

"I think that's the way most people in Tokyo react," Maomolin said. "They themselves don't see an issue with the Burakumin and they are often surprised that anyone bothers to react to them one way or another. 'See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' and there will be no any evil. And they often feel that the Ainu are an issue in Hokkaido only – it's an issue for the North, not the East. But there are sections of Tokyo that have a 'hidden' Burakumin designation. Many foreigners live there these days. Japanese nationals either shun these areas, or don't admit they live there. Politicians work on burying the designation. Many areas have been ploughed under and changed to industrial areas. I'm not sure that's the best approach, but I am an outsider myself."

He continued: "It is in Western Japan that the Burakumin often have the toughest time, probably because there are so many of them there. Discrimination is a visible problem in Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Hiroshima – the Kansai region in general. It happens elsewhere, but it is much more subtle, and if discovered, can shame the offender. Fortunately, the younger generations tend to have less tolerance for discrimination against the Burakumin, and things are improving as the older generations die out. Again, maybe not the best approach, but sometimes you get what you get."

Maomolin went silent after that. None of them spoke for a little while until the shape-changed cat asked: "Ranma? How do you feel about what happened in the courtroom today?"

Ranma sighed: "I'm not sure how I feel other than extremely stressed out. Honestly, I'm getting a little tired of all this nonsense. I thought I was getting rid of the baggage Genma dumped on me, and now I'm finding out Mom's side has its own baggage. I'm at the point where I just want to be me, whether it be male or female, human or animal, or soul or spirit. I've had enough. I just want to go forward, and not have to check in the rear view mirror constantly." He took Akane's hand and squeezed it. "I think part of the problem is I haven't taken charge of my life. I've been deferring to my parents a bit too much."

"That's sort of natural to do," Chiyoko pointed out.

"Yes, it is for a child, but I'm going to be twenty in a year from January. And it's not like you become an adult at the turning of a calendar page. I need to decide for myself about Honor and decide what obligations I'll accept," Ranma stated.

"I think we call that 'taking responsibility for yourself'," Akane smirked while tapping his nose with her free hand.

"Oh dear," Akari laughed. "Our little Ranma is growing up…"

"About time," Ryoga grinned.

"Feh. Fat lot of help you twits are," Ranma grumbled, but they could all hear the amusement in his compliant and he joined them in laughter.

* * *

A few blocks away from the dojo, at a deserted clinic, a shadow detached itself from the darkness and crept up to the building. A slim shape disabled the window alarm and followed a sixth sense around the wards a local sorcerer had setup. The shape climbed into the building and silently slid down the hall to the local records room. Once there, the shadow found the file for Ranma Saotome, opened the file, and snapped a photograph of the CODIS form inside. Then the shadow replaced the folder and left the way it came, taking time to re-enable the alarm.

Half-an-hour later, three more shadows detached themselves from the darkness and crept toward the quiet clinic…

* * *

A/N: Footnotes:

(1) This story is set in 2002. In 2010, Japan abolished the statute of limitations for many capital offenses.

* * *

A/N: Next - Modifications


	3. Modifications

Chapter 3: Modifications

Tofu woke from sleep at the sound of the war cries outside. Akane and Ranma were at it early because they had to go to Saturday class today. Kasumi was already gone from the bed, and he knew he needed to move as well. He quietly gathered up his things and stuffed them in a bag. Then he opened the window and shaped-changed into a rather large fox. Casting a quick Glamour spell on himself so as not to be noticed, he grabbed the bag in his mouth and leaped out the window. Katsunishiki was under Nabiki's window and seemed to be looking at him with interest – the Glamour spell only worked against humans. He waved his tail at the sumo pig and sprinted home to the clinic. Twenty minutes later, he was back at the Tendos, showered, shaved, and dressed for the day. "Good morning" he called to the house as he entered.

He heard Nodoka and Kasumi answer him. He swept his mind through the house and the dojo. Chiyoko and Akari were waking in the upstairs guest room while Soun, Maomolin, and Ryoga were watching Akane and Ranma spar. Nabiki was out cold in her room which she had shared with Nodoka. Tofu went into the kitchen and found Nodoka savoring a cup of tea while Kasumi put the finishing touches on breakfast. Nodoka looked bleary-eyed at Tofu and complained: "Whatever you gave me worked a little too well. I never woke up until the wonder twins began sparring."

"You needed your sleep. Yesterday was a stressful day for you. How do you feel? I could increase your dosage a little if you feel the OCD is too much to handle," he said.

"No, leave things be. A good cry yesterday helped," Nodoka replied as she reached up and squeezed his hand. "Thanks for being there."

"Hey, no problem. That's what a friend and a doc are good for," he answered. Kasumi's eyes sparkled as she looked at her fiancé.

"It's funny," Nodoka said. "I never thought much about Airi since she died. I had blocked everything out about her and Hajime to survive, so that I never even recognized him until Father identified him."

"You must have loved her very much," Kasumi stated.

"I adored Airi," Nodoka said. "I loved everything about her. We fought like all sisters do, but she was my idol. When she died, my world fell apart. Everything I did later was to try and fill her shoes. But that wasn't possible." She sighed and asked: "Is my father still around? He and I need to talk. I think he is suitably remorseful that we can start re-building."

"Yes," Tofu answered. "He'll call on you about lunch time. Do you think you're strong enough to talk to him one-on-one?"

She nodded: "Yes, but we will do it here. This home is my sanctuary. I feel stronger here."

"Of course you do. I'll make sure there's enough food," Kasumi commented. Nodoka chuckled at that.

* * *

Later on, after Ranma and Akane had gone to school for the half-day and the rest were off on errands about Nerima, Tofu was alone with Kasumi in the kitchen. He had about half-an-hour before he needed to be at the clinic. While she was washing up the breakfast dishes, Kasumi was talking about the things she needed to get done this morning before Ranma and Akane got home, but Tofu was not really listening to her words. Instead he was watching how she moved and listening to the tone of her speech. Finally, he had enough – he needed to do something about the tremor in her hands and her voice now.

He got up from the chair and took a plate out of her hands, much to her surprise. Then he pulled her to himself and held her tight. She didn't resist him, but she didn't press into him either for a minute or so. Then he heard her sob once and she relaxed into him. He continued to hold her while the tears ran down her cheeks silently – as they had her entire life.

They stayed like that for a few minutes until she said: "You warned me. You warned me things would get out of hand. I just didn't count on how quickly they would. Shigeo and Hayato told me Nodoka's madness had started when her sister died, but they never told me why."

"They were afraid you wouldn't call them, if you knew," Tofu told her. He kept a tight hold of her.

"They were right on that point. I didn't want Ranma to feel even more trapped. The idea was to start snipping away these stupid Bindings," she said.

"And to a large extent, it worked," Tofu comforted her. "Because we got Sanu in place, and the fact that he reacted largely as expected. He also gave Ranma enough latitude to discourage almost every one of the spouse hunters in a Court of Law. Ukyo is now on our side, and so is Cologne. The field is clearing dramatically. And this is in spite of the Summoning and Genma's idiocy. We have been able to use both to strengthen our position. We are down to *one* claimant. Do you know how impossible that seemed a month ago?"

Kasumi gave a soft laugh among the tears.

Tofu went on: "And Genma is almost out of the picture. Plus Ranma is thinking for himself now. Our pig-tailed martial artist is starting to really think about Love and Honor. I think seppuku is no longer a danger for him. He may declare an Honor Debt to the little girl, but that's about it. He doesn't think Tanaka's claim is valid because of Tanaka's lack of honor. Nodoka will probably follow Ranma's lead."

"There could still be other claimants out there," Kasumi said softly. "And the DNA test Tanaka requested will re-establish Genma's and Ranma's genetic tie."

"We'll see," Tofu told her. "We still have Ciren and Mausu to work behind the scenes. Let's see where things fall. I'll bring Daran down from Hokkaido to help us. I also need to talk to Maomolin and see where he stands on things."

"He's very fond of Ranma. I'm sure he's on our side," Kasumi said.

"Oh, I don't doubt that," her fiancé reassured her. "But he showed up just in the nick of time to provide support for Ranma, which left you and me free support Nodoka. That worked a little *too* cleanly. That tells me there are other players involved – most likely from the Council or the Animal Spirits."

"Or maybe me?" a familiar voice called out. Tofu's eyes hardened and he immediately called a Foxfire strike centered at the doorway. Kasumi was startled by the blue electric blast that appeared there as she and Ono spun apart. However, Happosai was not standing there.

"Oh, come on now, Ono. I'm not that stupid," Happosai's voice echoed around the kitchen.

"You knew, bastard!" Ono growled. "You knew that Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga had been marked to be sacrificed!"

"Yes, I knew – so did the entire Council. Will you punish them too?" Happosai asked.

"If I could! They are my friends!" Tofu shouted.

"Which is why you were not told. I'll also point out that they are alive and well now. One of the three baptisms was a Ryugenzawa – although baptism is only an approximate word. 'Blessing' might be a better word. Besides, what you told Ranma about the Storm is still true – unless the Summoning was executed properly, a good part of Japan would soon be underwater. Do you think we would have allowed that?"

"Who is the fourth Child to be sacrificed? Has she also been 'blessed' at Ryugenzawa?" Tofu demanded.

"Someone who is not your friend," Happosai answered. "Strictly speaking, she hasn't been Anointed a third time yet. That's for the Champion to do, and that's all the hints you get. I make no promises about re-birth – I can't. The Council doesn't want you to know and I'm not going to cross them. Neither do your Elders, who are playing yet another game. Now, will you stop trying to kill me?"

"Maybe if you tell me what you mean about the Elders," Tofu snapped.

"The Elders are convinced Ranma is someone called the Defender. You tell me," Happosai challenged as he appeared in the kitchen.

Tofu resisted calling another strike. Instead he answered, "The Defender is someone who appears in a time of change and upheaval. His (or her) job is to protect the Kitsune people and make sure we survive the upheaval. The title is often bestowed in retrospection."

"Makes sense. The Bakenekos also feel Ranma is the Defender, but they have a more hands-off approach," Happosai said.

"Is Maomolin still trying to manipulate Ranma as well then?" Kasumi asked.

"Not as far as I know," Happosai denied. "Maomolin is Chinese – while he is friendly with the Japanese Bakenekos, the Japanese Bakenekos are keeping their own counsel. Maomolin is here because he looks on Ranma as his son after having watched him and Ryoga over the years. Actually, the Kitsunes sent word to him that Ranma was in trouble and that's all it took. Why they did such a thing, I don't know. Maomolin has his own means of scrying future possibilities, but he's keeping what he knows to himself."

"So Ranma's more than one of the four Children of the Balance," Tofu prompted.

"Yes. He can actually draw on the Nerima Nexus without disturbing it. He pulls in the Power and feeds the Spirit inside himself and passes power to Ryoga through the Cat Fist to feed the Spirit inside of Ryoga. His Bond of Love to Akane allows him to pass power to her and feeds the Spirit inside of her. This is all without his conscious knowledge. His own spirit is adept at balancing the flows of Power, shielding everyone attached to him – the three Spirits, his Love, his Family, and his Friends."

"What about Ryoga and Akane?"

"I don't have any more information to give to you about Akane, but there are a couple of Ainu prophecies that mention someone fitting Ryoga's description. He is called the 'Suma' or 'Shield'. Why? – I don't know," Happosai answered.

Kasumi raised an eyebrow. "You're not telling us everything," she stated.

"No, I'm not. But I will state I'm still on your side. I want the Four Children to survive, and the Spirits they care for. I want the last Child to be 'Blessed' by Ryugenzawa if that is possible – it may not be. But, surely that's enough common ground to move forward?" he asked.

"I suppose so," Tofu agreed reluctantly. "But the next time one of these Events threatens, how about a warning, even if it is generic?"

"It won't help, but all right," Happosai agreed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have things to attend to." With that, the little man hopped out the door.

"Can we trust him?" Kasumi asked.

"No. He's either lying to us or he's got his facts wrong," Tofu said. "The Ainu word 'suma' means 'rock' or 'stone', which makes sense for Ryoga. 'Shield' is a different word altogether – 'abai'. I'm not sure how or why he confused them. I think he also knows something about Akane he's not telling. I need to pay a visit to the Elders and see what they know. Of course, what they will tell me is a whole other matter."

"Out of curiosity, what's Ainu for 'wind' and 'fire'?" Kasumi asked.

"Wind is 'rera' and fire is 'apay'," he answered. "Why?"

"Just curious. Who is the Champion?" she asked.

"The one who will defeat Henna. I think its Taro, but I'm beginning to have my doubts," he said. "The Champion will have to be pretty ruthless, and Taro is getting more and more grounded."

"Why ruthless?"

Tofu sat down heavily and said: "Because the Champion is going to sacrifice a 'child' in the presence of the last Sprite to kill the Sprite and break Henna's power. Apparently, the definition of 'child' is from birth to just short of their twentieth birthday. Also, the definition of 'sacrifice' is getting stretched to mean that the child dies one way or other – all of the previous sacrifices were self-inflicted deaths and not intentional."

Kasumi's eyes became very large. "You mean Akane, Ranma, and Ryoga…" she started.

"Were sacrificed," he finished. "Someone somehow selected them, consecrated them to the Balance, blessed/baptized them three times each, and made sure they died in the presence of a key Sprite/Spirit. The Wind Spirit, who is also called the Winter Sprite, was probably stuck in the Gekkaja, the Fire Spirit/Summer Sprite was stuck in the Kinjakan, and somehow the Earth Spirit/Autumn Sprite was trapped in the Stone Oni. But our someone also altered the ritual. He/she had the sacrifices drink from the Water of Life. When our teenagers came back from the dead, they dragged the Spirits/Sprites back with them. But now the Sprites are Bound Spirit-to-Soul with our three heroes."

"Oh my…"

* * *

Tofu went to his clinic. He planned to be there until 1PM and then he would close it for the weekend and get back to the Tendos. The morning schedule was routine up until 11:30AM when he planned to interview a new patient. Right on-time, an old man appeared in the doorway, but the aura belonged to a much younger man. "Mausu," the doctor said firmly. "Drop the disguise, I know it's you."

"You are absolutely no fun, Ono. Fine," Mausu grumbled as he started to pull off the make-up. "At least I fooled the nurses."

"What's up? I thought you'd join us at the Complex tonight," Tofu asked.

"Still planning to, but there is something you need to know now…" Mausu started.

"And?"

"Someone just erased Genma Saotome," Mausu said smugly.

"He's dead?" Tofu exclaimed.

"No, the panda is still in quarantine at the Nerima Zoo. But his CODIS profile has been erased from the national database. Someone also erased Nodoka's and Ranma's," Mausu said.

"What the hell is Kuno up to now?" Tofu said with exasperation.

"I don't know, but I have to wonder how far he's going to take this – Genma's stuck in panda form," Mausu commented.

Tofu's eyes showed that he registered what Mausu was saying and he ran from his office to the records room. When Mausu caught up to him, the doctor had already pulled the Saotomes' files. "They're gone," Tofu said. "Someone has taken the CODIS sheets. Someone good enough to temporarily disable the alarms and set them up again. I can't even tell someone was here last night - they never tripped any of the spirit alarms. We are talking ninja class or better and they were reinforced."

"They were also good enough that they never disturbed you, Ono. I'd pay a pretty penny to know how," Mausu added.

Tofu flushed a little. "I wasn't here last night," was all he said. He ignored the smirk on Mausu's face.

* * *

Sanu thanked the police officer for the message politely and closed the door quietly (you're not suppose to kill the messenger). He discretely watched through the window as the officer drove away. Then he exploded: "Ryuu! What the hell were you up to last night?!"

Ryuu came out of his bedroom. "What's up boss?" he asked innocently.

"Where are the Saotomes' DNA samples? The lab cannot find them! Not the old or the new ones! Nor can they find the results – someone hacked the systems last night! Someone good, someone very good!" Sanu demanded.

"Thanks for the compliment boss, but I didn't take them," the assassin said smugly. "The samples were destroyed before I got there. I watched the lab techs find the cleaned sample phials and the empty folders. Then they sterilized the phials, smashed them, and shredded the folders."

"Excuse me?" the judge asked confused.

"I said the lab techs found…" Ryuu started.

"Stop! You mean the lab techs didn't destroy the data either?" Sanu asked.

"Nope. All they did was clean up the evidence that a break-in occurred. Then they reported the data loss and said the samples were missing. The police somehow determined that a break-in happened. Next time, use a lab outside of Nerima," Ryuu said with a smirk.

"What else happened last night?" the judge demanded.

"Let see. Someone cleaned out Genma's apartment last night," Ryuu told him.

"They stole everything?"

"No, I mean the apartment was cleaned very thoroughly three times. Lots of fun chemicals. I don't think the landlord did much damage to the DNA evidence, but the bio-hazard squad did – they even switched out the couch and the bed. I'm not sure who the third squad was though. They were about to use ammonia which could have been bad after the squad's chemicals, but some kind soul told them to use hydrogen peroxide instead. That worked very well."

"Did this kind soul leave a name?" Sanu rumbled.

"Not that I heard," Ryuu said blandly.

"Did anything else happen last night?" Sanu demanded.

"Let's see…Genma's favorite bar was shut last night. Something about a yearly fumigation requested by the town. Of course, that was after the owner burned some trash out back – looked like a bar stool among other things," Ryuu said. "Oh, and Genma's office underwent a thorough cleaning a couple of times before the bio squad got there."

Ryuu paused for a second before he said brightly: "Kato wasn't joking when he said Genma wasn't liked in this town."

Sanu sat down heavily in a chair. "Amazing. They are all trying to erase him. There's no way this is one grand conspiracy. It has to be several groups. I'm sure Kuno is involved with the bio-unit, but I probably won't be able to pin it on him because the other groups have corrupted the evidence of the erasure. Most likely, word of the lab break-in started all the balls rolling."

"Looks like you'll have to get the Saotomes to submit new DNA samples on Monday. Bummer. At least you don't have to request Genma's – even if you could get it. He's not part of Tanaka's paternity request, and we already have medical proof he's sterile. It would be insult to injury. With Genma's CODIS stats missing, Ranma can never be linked to Genma," Ryuu told him.

Sanu thought about it for a bit and finally gave a little smile. "There's no reason to inform Tanaka that Genma's CODIS profile has been erased. It's none of his business. Let's let the paternity test go forward and have Tanaka sit in jail for sixty days. Once he gets out, I can tell him CODIS returned no paternity matches for Ranma. In the mean time, I need to keep thinking about how Nodoka's madness affects her marriage status. Some of the ramifications are rather interesting and I'm gathering up cases to support a decision."

"No problem, Boss. I'm going to work on lunch," Ryuu answered. Ryuu was a thoughtful man. He saw no reason to worry his friend by telling him that the bio-team had missed Genma's desk because Genma's co-workers had simply thrown it out and replaced it. Or that Ryuu had taken the desk and burned it until it was nothing but ashes…

* * *

Shampoo listened to the gossip in the restaurant from the lunchtime crowd. Everyone was buzzing about the break-in at the testing lab and that Judge Sanu was going to have to re-test Ranma. She waited until the crowds thinned and asked Mousse what a DNA test was exactly. He was pondering how to explain it when Cologne cut in: "It's a test using technology to determine who your parents are." Cologne knew that Shampoo would translate the word "technology" as "barbarian magic", which was good enough.

"How good is it?" the purple-haired girl asked.

"Very good," the old woman answered. "It can pretty much tell if two people are child-parent or not. If you just test the child alone, you can find out a lot about the parents, including their heritage. There's a man falsely claiming to be Ranma's father. In all likelihood, the test will prove that he is not."

"In all likelihood?" the young warrior asked.

"The test is better at saying 'definitely no' than 'positively yes'. There are a few circumstances where the test says 'maybe', but they are rare," Cologne explained.

"How's it done?" Shampoo asked again.

Mousse was about to launch into a detailed explanation when Cologne cut him off. "They take a special sterilized cotton swab and scrape the inside of your cheek with it. Then they sent it to the lab, and run the test."

"Shampoo see," the girl said and then bounced back into the kitchen.

Cologne turned to Mousse and said wisely: "Yet another lesson: Never tell people more than they want to know. Shampoo has no interest in cell structure or DNA replication. When you answer a question, give them the minimum to make them happy. If they ask more questions, then you answer them."

"Yes, Elder," Mousse acknowledged bowing politely.

That evening, Mousse would have been delighted to know that Shampoo snuck into his room, but he was soundly asleep due to some herbs that the young woman had placed in his tea that evening. Shampoo quickly swabbed the inside of his cheek and left. "The Elders will have to accept Ranma if he tests positive for Amazon heritage…" she thought closing Mousse's door quietly.

* * *

Early afternoon that same Saturday:

Toshio sat in his tower listening to the reports from the Bio-Team over the phone. Finally he said: "Good work. You have accomplished all the mission directives. Please take a few days off and then return to base. Thanks very much." Both sides exchanged 'goodbyes' and hung up.

Kuno then called Ms. Nakagawa and asked for Dr. Nishimura to be sent in. After the customary greeting, Kuno got straight to the point: "Doctor, is it possible to take skin cells from two people and generate something that would test positive for both people in a parental DNA test?"

"You mean as a substitute for a child's test sample?" the doctor pressed.

"Yes, something like that," Kuno acknowledged.

"Hmph. Usually people are looking to deny a true paternity test, not confirm a false one," the doctor stated.

"Nonetheless…" Toshio prompted.

"Well, it would be easier to use sperm and an egg. I suppose it could be done, but it would be cost and time prohibitive using today's technology. "

"What if you don't have to build an entire cell/tissue sample – I just want to fool a CODIS test," Toshio clarified.

"Well, we could make a solution containing the desired nucleotides for the thirteen loci, but as soon as the solution was checked under a microscope, it would be extremely obvious that it was a phony sample. The solution would probably not survive the preparatory steps anyway. Besides, you'd have to slip the test sample in for the real sample in the lab – it would be easier to just substitute the desired results in for the real results at the end of the process rather than the beginning. Depending on the lab setup, you might get the job done via computer networks instead of breaking-and-entering."

Kuno's thought processes stopped for minute. "I am an idiot," was his first clear thought. Out loud, he said: "Thank you very much for your time."

* * *

The old woman waited for her favorite shape-shifter. Out of all of them, he was the fastest. She could nail the others with casual ease, but he was a challenge. A lot of the fun would go out of her life whenever he was stuck, but now he was back.

She heard him running with his fiancée towards her and distinguished his steps from the young woman's. He was on the outside this time – more of a challenge to hit him and miss the girl. She listened carefully and began the countdown silently: five, four, three, two, one… *SPLASH*

"Really?!" Ranko called out. "This has got to happen at least once a week." The old woman turned half-blind eyes to her and sniffed, looking very distracted. The boy-girl just sighed and took the Tendo girl in search of hot water. The old woman walked back into her house and fell on the floor laughing. "Gods! That was so much fun!" she thought. Her streak was unbroken even though Ranma tried to dodge her. She would sometimes appear at other houses just to catch him if he was trying to avoid her. But no matter how many times she caught him, he never got angry with her – he always just sighed and walked away. "May all the Kami bless you Ranma," she thought. "You have a good soul, and you will be a great teacher – especially with the patience I am forcing you to learn." Sometime or other, she would have to come 'clean' with him, but not yet. "Maybe for your twentieth birthday," she thought.

The old woman (Mrs. Ohayashi to her neighbors) sat down at her computer and pulled up the Nerima Gossip Forum. She read a few postings, and then ran across the latest from Chie, the Ono Clinic Office Manager. Oh dear. She reflected on the situation, and then she made up her mind. This was too perfect to pass up. She liked Akane and Ranma. If she could make their life easier, now was the time, even if it meant giving up the Game. She'd find a new one to amuse herself…

* * *

A/N: Just a heads up: I tampered with the word representing the Ainu concept for 'fire'. Instead of using the spelling that would result from the Japanese phonetic translation (as would be traditional in translating from the Ainu language), I used an American phonetic translation instead. I didn't like the spelling for the word that resulted from Japanese phonetic translation. It's not an offensive word per se, but the same spelling as an English word is likely to cause confusion. You'll see why later. Only those who check my research would notice the difference.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I know the "water-ladle ninja from hell" is more prevalent in Fan Fiction than in the Manga, but I still like the concept. If she bothers the reader, consider her a character I created like 'Judge Sanu', or borrowed from other writers. Besides, she's "featured" in the Anime opening (which is probably why she's a favorite in Fan Fiction).

* * *

A/N: 9/16/2014 - The Ladle Lady is given an name here to avoid confusion in the next chapter.

* * *

A/N: Next up: Complications


	4. Complications

Chapter 4: Complications

Shampoo snuck into the lab proper and checked her position against the lobby map that she had taken a picture of using Mousse's phone. She didn't understand technology, but she was a warrior – she could adapt. She had paid attention when Mousse was showing off his gadget, discarding some of the features as useless, but noting others like the camera and the Japanese-to-Mandarin application that she was using to make sense of the lab signs. However, she was getting a sinking feeling about the mission – the lab was large, very large. She had about twenty minutes left until the guards would start to wake up and she needed to re-enable the cameras before then.

She followed the map until she was in the processing area. It took another five minutes to find the sample cold storage unit, but after she disabled the monitoring sensor and opened up the room, her feelings were confirmed; there were thousands of samples in here. She didn't have time to try and find Ranma's. She was also wise enough to know that this might be one of several storage units – there may even be a smaller unit where new samples were held. She closed the door and re-enabled the sensors. "Think!" she told herself. She had about ten minutes left before she had to start backtracking.

She looked at the lab map and decided she'd have to try again later. She used the remaining time to scout the territory. Moving quickly she noted the conveyor system encased in glass and the storage rooms at various points. This was not an overnight procedure she noted. Ranma's sample might already be in process – good thing she had decided not to start searching the samples. She continued to move, stopping every so often to check the flow of wires in the ceiling by moving a ceiling tile. Definitely not good. She found the central control room (the IT room Mousse had called it) and followed a large knot of cables away from the room "Five minutes left," she noted. "Let's hear it for fast movement and Amazon tracking skills." Finally she found a bay of offices. One of them was labeled "Post-Processing". An idea began to form in her head as she checked the door for an alarm. Finding none, she let herself in and scanned the room, noting the printers and the testing forms that were already complete. There was a stack in a bin marked "For Analysis". She took pictures of several of them and then took more pictures of the room.

Finally, time was up and she need to start backtracking. She retraced her steps back to the guard room and checked their pulses. "Good," she thought. "They're fine and will be waking up shortly." When they woke up, their brains would fill in the missing time by themselves – it was a very reliable drug. She re-enabled the cameras and ran the loop back to mismatch exactly one hour. Then she reset the timers. Anyone looking would find the discrepancy – but only if they looked. On the off-chance that they did, the anomaly would be traced to the wrong time, throwing off any investigation. She quickly cleaned the area to remove the dust she had disturbed from the vent and let herself back out as she came in. She would need to do some research on this 'DNA testing' thing and see if she could make sense of the sheets she had copied. Nailing the timing of the processing would be important too…

* * *

Kuno had just finished debriefing the squad commander who was in charge of hitting the DNA testing facility. He had reviewed the footage with the man and went over the layout of the plant. He also snapped several images from the footage and sent them to his industrial espionage team, requesting as much detail as possible regarding the timing and backlog at the lab. He already knew that the lab was a secure facility that kept their post-processing facilities off-line. Data was sent to analysis via hardcopy reports and the post-processing machine was backed up manually. He counted on the espionage team to determine who created the machine and to steal its schematics.

Kuno had also started to generate a CODIS profile on himself. While it was impossible to shrink the three day processing time, he could use money to jump to the head of the queue and start the processing on a Saturday. He should have the CODIS profile by Tuesday late and be ready to act by Wednesday. Ranma's new profile would not be ready until Thursday at the earliest. The plan was to intercept the profile that would link Ranma to Genma and link Ranma to Toshio instead. Toshio was already working on a story with witnesses that would suggest Genma had decided to make a move on the Kuno fortune by breaking into a sperm bank that Toshio was registered at (or at least would be).

While Ranma showed no signs of being a fiscal genius, he was stable (mostly – or at least more stable than most of the Kuno family). More importantly, he was very intelligent. Also, Akane Tendo was sisters with Nabiki Tendo and Nabiki did show signs of fiscal genius. Both girls had inherited their mother's intelligence and Toshio was willing to bet intelligence was a dominant trait that would be passed to Ranma's and Akane's offspring. While he was sure all of the couple's children would have an interest in martial arts, not all of them could (or would want to) inherit the dojo, especially if Kuno was offering an alternative to his "grandchildren". Kuno could bypass his brother's mad children and leave the Kuno fortune to someone more responsible – not that he was planning on going anywhere for a long time. He was certain he'd have time to shape a worthy heir. And with any luck, he could pursue the courtship of Nodoka and make the grandchildren truly his.

Toshio laughed at himself. Maybe the plan was a little off-the-wall (O.K. it was a lot off-the-wall), but what the heck! You only lived once, and sometimes you had to do something for yourself. Even so, he gave it only a 10% chance of working. As he thought about the odds, he noted with amusement that his brain was already working on fall-back plans…

* * *

Tomo was once more sweating up a storm in front of the Kitsune Elders. "Come on! Can't I catch a break here?" he thought.

The North Elder looked down at the small Kitsune. "How goes your work for Lord Ono?" the Elder asked.

"Umm…Fine, Lord Elder. He has me running odd tasks as he deems necessary. I was allowed to safeguard Lady Kasumi for a week as well," Tomo answered.

"Very good, young one," the North Elder acknowledged. "While you are in the humans' world, we have a small task we would like you to do. It is complementary to Lord Ono's tasks, so there is no need to trouble him with it. In fact, we rather insist you didn't."

"Ah, crap. They're asking me to cross Lord Ono," Tomo thought. "And I don't get a say in the matter." Out loud he answered formally, "I am pleased to aid my Elders in their tasks."

"You seem reluctant, little one," the South Elder noted.

"May I speak bluntly since I already agree that I am going to do what you tell me, Elders? Without ending up in Absolom?" he pleaded.

The South Elder smirked. "I suppose the condemned has a right to a last meal."

"I don't want to cross Lord Ono. I gave my word I'd help him. My word to you outranks that promise, but I'd rather not end up in a conflict. All right, I said my peace. What do I have to do, Great Sirs," Tomo said with a sigh.

"Relax," the West Elder said. "You don't have to work against Ono. We are not asking you to spy on him either. This task is more or less parallel to his." Tomo just nodded, not really trusting the answer.

"All you have to do is enter a test facility and swap one piece of paper for another, then bring the other paper back to us. Nice and simple," the East Elder told him. "You're already in the right area – Nerima. You must do this on Thursday night. We will give you a map of the facility and where the paper has to end up. We will also arrange for a suitable power outage to aid you. The outage will start at 7:51PM."

"Bull," the little Kitsune thought. "But I'm stuck." Out loud, he said, "It is a pleasure to help my Elders." A few pieces of paper appeared in his hands. He read the heading on one of them. It said 'Ranma Saotome.' "Of course it does," he thought.

"Very good, Tomo," the North Elder said. "You are dismissed." Tomo bowed and took his leave.

"Think he'll do it?" the West Elder asked.

"The guards are not armed. He'll get the job accomplished despite his worries and doubts. He's a survivor. Besides, if we send anyone else, Ono will detect the extra Kitsune in the area and know something is up. We need to avoid that. Ono's loyalty to Ranma is pretty strong – let's not test his loyalty to us by creating a possible conflict," the South Elder added.

* * *

Late Sunday morning found Ranma sitting on the house roof thinking. Akane was off with Yuka and Sayuri somewhere. If he closed his eyes and concentrated he could pick up her location (felt like Yuka's house). Ryoga and Akari were sharing some "alone" time somewhere (Ranma did not want to know). Maomolin and Chiyoko were playing tourist. The cat had checked on Ranma before he left, which Ranma appreciated, but also felt was unnecessary. The couple would be back for dinner. Tofu was off on clinic business at Nerima Hospital, but would be back by 3PM for the Sunday lesson. Nodoka and her father had gone for a long walk and were not expected back for lunch. Hayato and Soun were playing Shogi (Hayato had been warned). Nabiki was at the town library researching stocks.

Last night, Ryoga, Akari, Maomolin, Chiyoko, Akane, and Ranma had gone out on a triple date enjoying a Nerima nightclub. Ranma and Akane had never had a chance before, but with the Fiancée Brigade fragmented and demoralized after the First Date incident and everything that had happened since, they felt they could get away with it (not that they were giving up the Complex). The farm couple didn't have much chance either. Surprisingly enough, Maomolin was very knowledgeable about the city night life, a fact that Chiyoko teased him about by wondering out loud how many other girlfriends he had. The cat assured his significant other using the utmost debonair persuasion that she had no competition. Ranma had remarked to Akane that maybe the bakeneko had learned a few things over the past millennium. The human feline certainly knew more dance steps than anyone else in the club. Even more interesting was his ability to share the knowledge on-the-fly to his foster sons via telepathy. Ranma had to admit that having a fairy godfather made life interesting. The evening had ended with the three couples splitting up for romantic walks, eventually ending at the dojo.

Ranma appreciated that his friends were trying to distract him. He also appreciated that they did not press him after Maomolin's initial questioning Friday night. They all made it quite clear that they were available for any conversation Ranma wanted (even Chiyoko), but none of them pushed him – not even Akane (although it was killing her). However, Ranma knew this was something he'd have to deal with himself.

The dominant thought in his head was that he wanted the freedom to make his own choices. That included choices about Honor. On one hand, he knew he was descended from Genma (no matter what Ranko's CODIS test said). Anything Genma taught him about Honor was wrong – his Sire had no Honor, plain and simple. He had put Ranma in an impossible situation Honor-wise, and the only way out of it was to admit this was Genma's fault and declare all agreements "null". He had done that in a Court of Law, and all the petitioners had accepted this except Tanaka, who was obviously insane and didn't count. Still, it bothered him to be associated with Genma.

Unfortunately, his Mom's side was just as bad if not worse. Putting it very bluntly, his Mom had no Honor until very recently. That sounded harsh, but the truth was she didn't have to mental capacity to fully understand right or wrong before she started to take her medicines. It wasn't her fault; this was just the way it was. She *had* limped along as well as she could, and none of her decisions from that time were irreversible (Thank Heavens!). Admittedly, Ranma was sort of impressed by that, but it was not something you wanted to shout to the world. Basically, his Mom had not added or subtracted from family Honor.

That left Shigeo as the main carrier for family Honor. Ranma cringed. It wasn't that Shigeo was about to become "ronin". That happened in the past to Samurais through no fault of their own, especially when it was no longer traditional to kill yourself at the death of your master. When it did happen, you were expected to redeem yourself (sometimes by finding a new master). The reason for Shigeo's new status was cringe-worthy though. Shigeo had destroyed True Love, and driven three people insane. He engaged in kidnapping, torture, and deliberate marooning of an innocent man and had never been punished or even admitted true remorse. He was sorry for the outcome, but had Airi lived and married well, Shigeo would never have given Tanaka another thought. This was not someone with whom Ranma wanted to admit kinship.

Even if Shigeo didn't have such big stains on his honor, Ranma would not have wanted the old man calling the shots in Ranma's life – the old man was obviously a dictator. Ranma wanted to choose his associations, not have Shigeo (or any of the Saotomes) do it for him. He wanted to marry Akane of his own free will (damn, he had changed, hadn't he?). He wanted to stay in Nerima and not move up North to Hokkaido. In some weird way, he belonged here, even though he had seen better places in his travels (although not better people). And he wanted to choose his career, which was to be the best martial artist in the whole world.

That list made him stop and think. "Whoa, I really have changed," he said to himself. "There was a time when all I thought about was martial arts." He reflected on that a little more. There was no question that he had improved as a martial artist since Jusenkyo. In exchange for carrying the lost girl's genes, Jusenkyo had gifted him with more Chi paths in his spirit. The Chi generated from the cat spirits inside of him had filled the pathways, upping his power reserves tremendously. His speed had increased as the cat spirits became more and more incorporated into his own. Not only that, but the power leeched into Ryoga, given Ranma a sparring partner that required no quarter. Ryoga's own power reserves matched his own. When they fought, it was skill against skill for the most part – Ryoga was a bit stronger, but Ranma was a bit faster.

Even then, Jusenkyo wasn't done. The Pools of Sorrow had tweaked his spirit and opened Ranma's eyes to those around him. With that thought, Ranma looked deep inside himself and examined his soul. What he found surprised him; even before Jusenkyo, he wasn't a total bastard like Genma. Oh, he wasn't the greatest person in the world, but he wasn't the worst either. He did seek company of children along the way, even if he was to only know them for a day before moving on. He didn't cheat them of their victories in the games they played together (unless it was martial arts). When someone was obviously upset – like someone with a kite stuck in a tree – he helped out, even if he did have a tendency to showboat while doing it. Admittedly, he liked the admiration; he wanted someone to pay attention to him even then, but he was also content that they were no longer sad. All Jusenkyo had done was to make him notice others more. How he reacted was still up to him.

"But why would Jusenkyo do that?" he wondered. "Why was that important? My goal at the time was to be the greatest martial artist of all time. If Jusenkyo was trying to grant me my wish in exchange for Ranko, what did that have to do with anything?"

For some reason, Akane flashed into his mind just then. He thought about his Tomboy and how she fought. Before he started sparring for real with her, her sparring never showed what she was capable of in a fight. When she fought for real, her true potential showed though. Attack her for real, or even worse, attack her friends, and all hell broke loose. "I guess she fights harder when something important is on the line," he thought. "I suppose that's true for everyone. Me too. Jusenkyo made me notice people more so I'd have something real to fight for – them."

Ranma meditated on that last thought trend for some time. Finally, he stood up and looked over his city. He would be the greatest martial artist of all time. He knew that in his soul. The funny thing was; it really was no longer the most important thing to him. He belonged to her. He belonged to them. He belonged here. That was what mattered most.

That resolve demanded action, even if it was symbolic. In answer to something deep inside himself, he opened up his mind and gathered his power. He pushed his awareness out to the utter limit, encompassing most of the city. He could feel the life of the city even if the resolution was a little weak (he could feel the crowds more than the individual people). Then he pulled his awareness back to himself, drawing a light gentle breeze from all around him, across the entire city. The Wind brought him the scents of the city, the good and the bad. He had it flow around him and spiral up into the sky to spread back out again, making sure to keep the balance between the old and new weather patterns. The effort exhausted him completely. The masses of air involved were tremendous, but the end result was somehow deeply satisfying as he let things return to normal and collapsed back into a sitting position.

"You won't be any good for this afternoon's lesson now," Kasumi's voice scolded him.

Ranma turned to see the young woman standing about four meters away on the roof ridge line, holding her hands clasped by her chin, and looking at him thoughtfully. He returned her gentle smile as he said: "Ah, he's having me do more reading these days anyway. He's convinced I won't look at the texts unless he's standing over me."

Kasumi raised an eyebrow at the exhausted young man as she said "And he's wrong how?"

'Didn't say he was wrong," Ranma smirked. "What's up?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see what you were up to with that little display. You realized that you just shouted to the entire city, 'I am here,'?" she said.

"That was sort of the point. Besides, they already knew that," he answered.

"True. You've made your decisions then? That sort of felt like a victory yell," she prompted.

Ranma sighed. "Yeah, Mom won't be happy, and Genma would be in utter shock if he still gave a damn, but I have."

"And how about Ranma?" she asked with the eyebrow raised again.

The smirk came back as he answered: "Ranma will be just fine." The expression faded as he said: "I need to talk to the judge before court starts again tomorrow. I'd like to go over everything with him first, and I think he'll have to help me."

Kasumi gave a light laugh as she said: "And how will you do that? It will be three days until you have to energy to get up after your bit of magic there."

His expression became positively impish as he teased: "Watch and learn, Big Sister!" Ranma stretched out a mental hand and lightly brushed the edges of the Nexus at the heart of Nerima. The Nexus echoed power deep into his soul, somehow recharging Ranma without wiping him away.

For the first time in his life, Ranma saw Kasumi's serene smile lost in awe. "You can consciously draw directly from the Nexus now?" she whispered.

"Not quite," he said with the same impish expression. "But I can skim from the edges. I can feel the ebb and flow of the power so long as I am quiet. It won't help in the heat of battle, but I can heal even faster now – at least spiritually."

With that, Ranma stood and spun, covering the distance and snatching Kasumi up, cradling her in his arms. "Ranma!" she protested.

"C'mon sis! Akane will be back shortly. I'll make lunch today. You can keep me company!" With that he leapt from the roof and carried her inside.

* * *

The old woman, Mrs. Ohayashi, walked down her hallway to the shrine that she kept at the end. A small picture of a young man topped the shrine, the picture draped with black cloth. It had been ages since he died in the traffic accident, but she still missed her son. She opened a drawer of the shrine and pulled out a CODIS profile sheet.

She had always been interested in genealogy. When the CODIS tests had become cheap enough, she had many of her family members tested, even though some of them were deceased. It was traditional in her family to keep some of the hair, and it usually had a bit of root still attached – a family peculiarity. After all, she couldn't take her money with her, and it was interesting to see how the genes were passed down, especially in her family. She noted with amusement that there had been some 'wandering' across the branches of the family tree, but she made no effort to draw attention to it. She liked her family as it was.

She decided she would talk to Judge Sanu tomorrow evening. He needed to know there was a new player on the field…

* * *

A/N: 9/16/2014 - I've assigned the Ladle Lady a formal name because the phrase "old woman" wasn't carrying between the chapters well (actually, I assigned the name in Chapter 7 for when she talked to the judge - now I'm just using it earlier). Thank you to Flameraven1 for pointing that out.

* * *

A/N: Next up: The Judge and the Assassin


	5. The Judge and the Assassin

A/N: In this chapter, Ranma makes use of the Chi Nova Blast, something that hasn't been mentioned until now. It is a technique Akane developed in this Continuum. She taught it to Ranma and a few others. It is an instant blast of 'light' that temporarily blinds anyone who is facing it, but the caster is immune. Closing your eyes does not help against the blindness, neither does sunglasses as the blast is at least partially 'spiritual' – you need steel, living bone, or thick wood to block it. The technique also reveals to the caster anyone or anything hidden by whatever means, including the Umisen-ken.

* * *

Chapter 5: The Judge and the Assassin

Ranma roof-hopped his way towards the judge's condominium. He had made a point of calling and asking for permission first - Kasumi had ground enough good manners into his skull for that. Tofu had returned early with the expressed purpose of whapping Ranma with a newspaper for his little magic show (the irony was not lost on Ranma) and then excused his student from lessons so Ranma could talk to Sanu. Akane had asked if he wanted company, but Ranma just shook his head. Tofu had cut off any further wheedling on the young woman's part by saying she wasn't excused from lessons and that this was an ideal time to work on her Elemental studies since there was one less inexperienced Elemental mage about to muck up the Power flows.

He landed on the street in front of the judge's home and walked up to the door. Mr. Maruyama let him in and had Ranma wait in a sitting room while he told the judge Ranma was here. The room was comfortable-looking and the chairs were soft. Books lined the walls and the light was provided by tall floor lamps set by the chairs. Somehow, it seemed to fit Ranma's idea of a judge's relaxation area – comfortable chairs were one could drink sake and discuss obscure points of Law or Philosophy with a fellow judge. There was even a fireplace completing the scene. Ranma smirked a little regarding the room's predictability.

As he sat there though, he began to notice a faint but disagreeable odor. He closed his eyes and searched his memory. Drain cleaner: the smell was boiling drain cleaner. The last time he smelled this was when Akane had tried to soften some overcooked octopus with drain cleaner. Ranma still shuddered at the memory of that. Fortunately, he had been able to distract her and dump the whole dish down the toilet (it cleared the pipes well). She was better these days, especially when he watched over her, but he still had nightmares about some of the meals she first served him when he arrived at the dojo over two years back. He got up and followed the smell to the kitchen. Sure enough, there was some type of soup cooking on the stove, and the odor was coming from the pot. He grabbed a bottle of vinegar and added a few drops to the soup – the resultant reaction told him everything he wanted to know. He killed the heat and noticed that the pot was already sitting under a fume hood, much like in a chemistry lab. "What the hell?" he thought.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Mr. Maruyama shouted from the kitchen doorway. "I'm cooking that for the judge's supper!"

Ranma's arm shot out and grabbed the man by the throat. "Unless the judge is a troll in disguise, I don't think he'll enjoy Drain Cleaner Surprise," Ranma growled. Mr. Maruyama eyes widened and he made a gesture at the floor. Suddenly Ranma was surrounded by smoke and he felt Maruyama hit a pressure point on Ranma's wrist, forcing the hand to go numb. Ranma immediately withdrew the hand while launching a kick, using his other hand to reverse the pressure point. Ranma heard Maruyama flee down the hall; the assassin masked his aura as he went. The sounds vanished too. Ranma immediately masked his own aura and stalked after him. At the first doorway, Ranma fired a Chi Nova blast into what was apparently a large dining room. The blast did no physical damage, but lit up the room, except for one corner where the assassin was obviously hiding. Ranma heard a muttered oath and then began catching poisoned darts as Maruyama tried to get out of the corner. Ranma leaped up on the table, but Maruyama dove under it and was out the door with Ranma in hot pursuit.

* * *

Sanu saw Ryuu and Ranma flash by his doorway. The judge calmly checked the time. "2:45 PM. Oh dear," he thought. "Well, I suppose I better do something. I should probably attend to my constitutional, and then stop Ranma from killing Ryuu or vice versa." He was about to head towards the bathroom when he heard swordplay in the den. "Actually, this could be interesting…" He wandered slowly down the hall toward the den and peeked in. Both men had katanas and both were trying to disarm while guarding against a fatal thrust. Ranma was definitely a swordsman. Ryuu tried a smoke bomb, but Ranma's eyes blazed and something pushed the smoke back at Ryuu. Ryuu immediately set off a flash bomb, blinding everyone else in the room. Ranma did a back flip away from the assassin, guarding against a forward attack. The young man then held up his hand and another flash appeared, catching the assassin off guard.

Sanu stumbled down the hall away from them while his sight returned. He heard the clash of steel again. "Great," he thought. "Now they are blind fighting. I suppose I really should stop this." He walked back to his room, his eyes clearing as he went. Once there, he pulled out a small revolver, and, after carefully checking the cylinders and the chamber, he loaded two blanks into the gun. Then he walked back to the den.

As he stepped back into the room, he heard a sword fall and Ranma immediately disarmed Sanu, taking the gun and covering Ryuu with it. "He's trying to kill you, sir!" Ranma shouted.

Sanu looked at Ranma and said: "I'm aware, son. He's been trying to kill me for the last twenty-five years."

* * *

Ranma's brain froze for a fraction of a second, but his reflexes did not – he still kept the gun trained on Maruyama. Much to Ranma's surprise, Maruyama relaxed and hung up the sword again. "Geez, Boss. Next time see if I come running to your rescue!" Maruyama scolded. The assassin looked at how Ranma was holding the gun. "Great," he groused. "The kid's a marksman too."

"You can put the gun down, Ranma," Sanu told him. "First off, the gun is loaded with blanks. I checked very carefully. Second, Ryuu's on my side, believe it or not."

"But he poisoned your dinner!" Ranma exclaimed.

The judge's eyebrow shot up. "Crap, that's tonight's trap," he muttered. "I'll be right back."

The judge ran from the room and went back into his bedroom. There was a swishing sound followed by a sudden "thwack". The judge exclaimed "Ah ha! There's a guillotine in the bathroom!"

Maruyama looked at his watch. "A little early," the man commented.

Ranma sighed and unloaded the gun, noting the rounds really were blanks. He tossed the blanks to Maruyama, who caught them deftly. Ranma recognized a One-Upmanship Duel when he saw one.

* * *

"Next time, Boss, could you check and see which trap I'm catching flack for?" Ryuu said with some exasperation as he sat back in his chair after having brought some drinks into the den.

"I didn't know you started the prep work so early. I thought Ranma caught you setting up the 3PM trap, in which case, you deserved the flack. Even so, you knew he was coming over. What possessed you to start cooking tonight's while he was here?" Sanu defended himself.

"That fume hood is a damn good one. I didn't think anyone would recognize the little trace that escaped," Ryuu answered. Then he turned to Ranma and asked: "Speaking of which, how did you recognize the smell?"

"Let's just say that, while Akane is not getting a perfect husband, I'm not getting a perfect wife either," Ranma stated.

"Drain cleaner?" Sanu prompted.

"She thought it would soften overcooked food," Ranma answered. "A domestic goddess she is not, but I'm fond of her anyway. And she is getting better." He took a sip of his cola as the other two men chuckled.

"You lead an exciting life, Ranma," Sanu commented.

"Seems like I'm not the only one. So how do a federal judge and a Yakuza enforcer end up working together? And how do they end up in a One-Upmanship Duel?" Ranma asked.

Ryuu looked at his boss and said, "You might as well tell him, Isao. He stumbled into it, and it's not like we don't know his secrets. Besides, we should accept our allies as they come – he's not without his own abilities."

"I suppose…" Isao agreed. "But I'm not sure where to start; the beginning is a little murky…"

"Well if you cannot start at the beginning, what's the summary?" Ranma asked.

"Well, I suppose the summary is that Ryuu was ordered to kill me by his oyabun…," Sanu started.

"But my oyabun will be killed if I carry through on the order…" Ryuu added.

"But if his oyabun cancels the order, then the other groups in his family will think he is weak, so the oyabun can't cancel the order," Sanu finished. "Also, my hastened death would launch a war between a Chinese Triad and several Yakuza families."

"And if the order to assassinate the Boss is lifted, then the Italian Mafia will start sending assassins to kill Sanu since they also carry a grudge and since it would no longer be considered poaching on Yakuza territory. Then, of course Isao's niece is married to one of the big guys in the Cabinet, who will start cracking down on all Yakuza families for the loss of a family member," Ryuu said.

Ranma was ticking through things on his fingers. "Who will kill Ryuu's oyabun if Ryuu carries through on his orders?" Ranma asked.

"The head of the largest Yakuza family in Tokyo," Ryuu answered. "He's a big fan of the boss. He's also a big fan of 'you don't kill cops or judges'. The same man has threatened to end all ties between the families if anything happens to Isao."

"Of course, it helps that I saved the life of that fan twenty-five years ago," Sanu tossed out with a grin on his face.

"Which means that the oyabun wants to cancel the order to repay the judge for the fan," Ranma deduced. "But if he does, he looks weak to his own family and the Mafia feels they can come in and make the hit, which means the Yakuza will start fighting the Triad, the government, and themselves."

"Just everyday politics," Ryuu commented while taking a sip of whiskey.

"So you're held in no-man's-land until the oyabun is dead," Ranma concluded to the Sanu.

"Actually, the oyabun died fifteen years ago," Sanu said. "Ryuu's new oyabun…"

"By succession only…" Ryuu cut in.

"Now maintains the assassination order simply to keep the Mafia out of my hair and keep the peace. He and I were classmates in high school," Sanu finished.

"I'm still under orders to assassinate Isao, but I've been told that if I do, I will also be killed," Ryuu said.

"O.K….and I thought I lived a complicated life," Ranma said.

"Oh, that's the simple version of the story," Ryuu laughed. "I left out that my niece is married to Isao's nephew…"

"Which was due to an international incident between Japan and Russia over fishing rights," Sanu tossed out.

"It's getting higher and deeper in here," Ranma noted with some skepticism.

"All true, son. We can pull out the newspapers clipping and show you the connections. You're free to investigate things yourself," Sanu laughed.

"And you two first met when?" Ranma asked and then started to take a sip.

"When Sanu had to serve as my public defender thirty-five years ago," Ryuu answered.

Ranma began coughing as the soda went down the wrong pipe. "You're joking!" he sputtered.

"Nope." Sanu said rolling his eyes. "And I was so sure he was guilty. Turned out that the evidence said otherwise."

"Not until you kicked a few wheels and uncovered who really killed that poor merchant – intimidation means you break a few bones – dead people don't make payments. I seem to recall that was also the first time I saved your life," Ryuu said smugly.

"Did wonders for your street cred," Sanu noted.

"Protecting an honest lawyer? Merely saving an endangered species," Ryuu bantered. "Since then, Sanu and I were forced to solve a fair number of crimes together for one reason or another before he got a judgeship. Then we ended up getting stuck together permanently."

Ranma was shaking his head. "I'm going to say 'I am suspending my disbelief' and leave it there," Ranma said. The shape-shifter then raised an eyebrow and asked: "And the one-upmanship competition got started how?"

"Despite what you may believe, I'm actually fairly good at staying alive," Sanu told him. "History will back me up. My eyes are pretty sharp and my brain works fairly well. However, Ryuu was afraid that if something was to happen to him, I might end up with someone who was really trying to kill me."

"So I wanted him to become better at recognizing traps and assassination attempts," Ryuu continued. "And to teach him to monitor his environment and arrange it to protect himself."

"The Rules evolved over time. Both of us constantly re-arrange the house to accomplish our objectives. The key thing is when to have a truce. There are times when we need to have each other's back, especially when there is work to do," Sanu added.

"Or when it is time to call for a rest – we are only human. During a rest cycle, one of us can rest and the other can guard," Ryuu said.

"And 3PM is game time?" Ranma asked.

"11AM and 3PM," Sanu answered. "The trap is set and I have five minutes to find it and either avoid its range or disarm it. To avoid rigidity in thinking or laxity in observation, there's an early morning contest and an evening contest, but these occur in this house and only in this house to protect outsiders."

"So what happens if you don't avoid the trap?" Ranma questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Depends on the trap," Ryuu answered. "In the case of the soup, as soon as he put his spoon in to the bowl, I would have stopped him. Other times, I would let him ingest the poison, but then hand him the antidote."

"Sometimes, the morning ambush is a crossbolt, but the target is offset. What matters is that I react before the bolt hits its target," Sanu said.

"And the constant sparring doesn't wear you down? There are times when I actually relax with my rivals," Ranma noted.

"Oh, the Game pauses two weeks in five. And there are months when we switch roles," Ryuu explained. "Several of my rivals will actual approach the boss with ideas, but I've sometimes been brought low with the simple things…"

"Like when I removed the slats in his bed," Sanu interrupted with a grin.

"The follow-through would have been to have a spike there," Ryuu agreed. "It's a reminder that I have to keep in shape too."

"The Game keeps us both from getting flabby," Sanu agreed. "And, of course, if someone asks if there is really an assassination order against me, Ryuu can honestly say that he's made a recent attempt."

"Politics again…" Ranma commented.

"True," the judge laughed lightly and then said: "But it's time to move on. You are now a secret-keeper, Ranma. Be our ally and we will be yours. Deal?"

The judge and Ryuu raised their glasses. Ranma raised his and answered: "Deal."

The judge drained his glass and said: "You want to speak to me, Ranma?"

Ranma finished his drink and leaned forward. "Yes, judge. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I've decided I need to start taking control of the situation. This whole thing with Mom's family has been sort of a wake-up call. I'm tired of living for other people's expectations – I want to live for mine. Honor is a personal thing, more than it is a public thing and I want to put my own stake in the ground. I have things I want to accomplish, but I'm underage and I'm not sure where I stand legally."

"All right…where do you want to go?" Sanu asked. "I have a collection of cases that apply to your situation. We have some latitude in the matter believe it or not."

Ranma took a deep breath and started talking….

* * *

That night Akane and Ranma sat on the roof alone watching the stars. She could tell something was bothering him, but was waiting for him to bring it up. Finally, Ranma spoke: "Akane? Do remember the other night when we were talking about the Burakumin?"

"Yes, Ranma?" she acknowledged.

"You never said how you felt about it. Would you still love me if you found out I was a Burakumin?" he asked her.

The girl smiled gently. "Idiot. Of course I would. And if you're worried about your birth status, or your Ainu blood, or your family history – STOP. I love YOU, not your heritage. Just don't change who you are right now and we will be fine. O.K.?"

"O.K." he answered. He pulled her closer to him, drinking in her fragrance. "I can do this," he thought. "If I have her, I can do anything…"

* * *

Kimiko looked at her handiwork with the Book of Life. She wanted to be sure she had erased everything cleanly. Finally, she bent down and blew at the Page. Her breath pushed all the debris off the Page…

* * *

N/A: Next up - Sorry, no hints. Besides, it should be obvious what Ranma is thinking. The question is: "Will he get there?"


	6. Ranma Saotome?

Chapter 6: Ranma Saotome?

Judge Sanu called the Court to order and reviewed the crowd. Tanaka sat at the Plaintiff's table alone, while Nodoka, Soun, and Ranma sat at the Defendant's table with their lawyer. The crowd was full of supporters for Nodoka and Ranma. In fact, there wasn't even standing room available. "Don't these people have jobs and school?" wondered Sanu. "I better make things quick or the city will stay at a stand-still," he thought.

"All right," he said out loud. "First order of business is that there was an accident at the labs on Friday and the Saotomes' samples were corrupted. So, I going to require that new samples must be collected from Mr. Tanaka, Nodoka Saotome, and Ranma Saotome. I am also going to require that Mr. Tanaka will be responsible for all lab costs *and* for all court and lawyer costs of both sides if it is found that he is not Ranma Saotome's father."

"I object, your honor!" Mr. Tanaka shouted out. "You're punishing me for pursuing Justice!"

"No, I am punishing you for wasting the court's time. You know full well you are not Ranma's father. If you are Ranma's father, this ruling has no effect on you. Are you saying you are not Ranma's father and that this test is indeed a waste of time?" Sanu challenged. "Keep in mind that my previous ruling regarding sixty days in jail will also apply if you continue this nonsense. You can back out now cleanly if you wish. Are you still claiming to be Ranma's father or not?"

"I am," Tanaka grated out.

"Then you still wish the tests to go forward?" Sanu pushed.

"I do," Tanaka said.

"Then so be it. Bailiff? Please gather the new samples," Sanu ordered. The Court waited silently as the three people submitted to the cheek swabs again. Once it was done, Sanu continued: "In the meantime, I can rule on a few other matters. Regarding the marriage of Genma Uchida and Nodoka Saotome: the Saotome family has submitted sufficient evidence to show that Nodoka Saotome suffered from advance OCD at the time of her marriage. More importantly, Nodoka also suffered from extreme paranoia and sufficient schizophrenia that her World View was obviously distorted. Therefore, she could not enter into any legal or social contract." The courtroom began buzzing until Sanu called everyone back to order. "Therefore, in accordance with Article 36 of the Family Code, the court must reject all requests for divorce. Instead the Court itself must hereby declare the marriage contract null and void and not needing any requests for divorce."

Tears leaked down Nodoka's cheeks upon hearing those words. The Emperor of Japan just declared through his representatives that she never married Genma – Genma Saotome never legally existed. All contracts he made were null as well. His stains of honor were lifted from the Saotome family. With a start she remembered her conversation with Kasumi in the garden so long ago. (1) She turned to Kasumi in shock. The young woman returned her gaze with sympathy, but also mouthed the words "I'm sorry." Nodoka now knew who was responsible for drawing the main Saotome family into this. Nodoka shook where she was, not knowing how to respond. Finally she uttered a low cry and hurled herself at Kasumi, who stood still to hold her. Nodoka cried into Kasumi's shoulder as Kasumi stroked her hair.

The courtroom burst into chatter as the implications became clear. Tanaka cried "No!" but was ignored.

Ranma blew out a deep breath and held his head in his hands – he knew it had been coming, but the shock was still tremendous. He felt Akane leave the audience and pull up a chair besides him, holding him.

Finally, Nodoka's lawyer stood up amidst the turmoil and yelled out: "Your Honor! I beg for a 15 minute recess!"

"Granted!" Sanu yelled back across the uproar – he had given up trying to take back control until some of the emotions had been spent.

* * *

Finally, Sanu called the Court back into order and people settled down. Tanaka was forced to give up the Plaintiff's table as Hayato Saotome took it instead. Shigeo Saotome now sat at the Defendant's table with his lawyer. There was a bailiff standing next to Tanaka as he sat in the audience near Hayato. Ranma sat with Akane, and Nodoka sat between Soun and Kasumi in the audience behind Shigeo.

Sanu started again: "Family Court will now rule regarding the disputed petitions between Hayato Saotome and Shigeo Saotome. Both men have requested the return of the Saotome Honor Blade in the possession of the Court. Will both sides abide by the ruling of the Family Court or must the issue be relinquished to the Summary Courts where such matters are usually handled?"

"I will," stated Hayato. Shigeo echoed him.

"Fine," Sanu said. "Since Shigeo Saotome has refused to agree to the Court's conditions for the return of the blade, including the condition to promise never to use the blade in a Seppuku ceremony, the Court hereby awards the blade to Hayato Saotome."

Hayato nodded in satisfaction, but Shigeo sighed. Sanu spoke: "I wish I could say I was sorry, Shigeo Saotome, but you don't get to choose your fate. You have committed various serious crimes, and you should be punished in a Court of Law. I wish Hajime Tanaka had the brains to press charges over twenty-five years ago." Tanaka's eyes narrowed at that.

Sanu took a sip of water (after checking the clock) and continued: "The Court will now attend to the petition submitted by Hayato Saotome regarding changes to his Family Registry as follows:" For some reason, Sanu stopped to look at Ranma Saotome, who only nodded. Sanu then continued: "The Court hereby approves the removal of Shigeo Saotome and all his descendants from the Saotome family tree due to loss of Honor for offenses against his daughters Airi and Nodoka; and for offenses against one Hajime Tanaka."

The Court gave a collective gasp at Sanu's words. Shigeo just seemed to slump into his chair. Hayato looked at his uncle sternly. Nodoka broke into tears while Kasumi held her. Ranma looked straight ahead while Akane held his hand. Tanaka just looked confused.

Sanu called for order again and continued: "In addition, Nodoka Saotome will be adopted into Hayato Saotome's family as his sister, allowable since he is now head of the family by Family Declaration, and his own parents are deceased. The Family Registry will also note the correct genetic relationship."

There was more confusion in the Courtroom. "But what about Ranma?" someone called out.

Hayato looked at Ranma, who only nodded again. Hayato sighed and raised his voice: "Your Honor, I beg to announce the decision regarding Nodoka's son."

"You must follow the decision as we agreed," Sanu told him sternly.

"It still should come from the Head of the Family," Hayato stated. At Sanu's nod, Hayato continued: "Since Ranma was born to Nodoka, the punishment against Shigeo still applies. We have reviewed several alternatives, but Ranma's status as a legitimate child of a non-existent relationship with no known genetic father complicates things tremendously. If we follow our first impulse, which is to adopt him into our family, he may still suffer the Honor burden from Tanaka and the label of illegitimacy. We also fear he may suffer the Honor burden of other claimants from those who will try and claim that Genma Uchida was still a legal representative of the Saotome clan. Our second course of action would be to seek his true father so Ranma can claim his true clan, or to have another clan adopt him. Either way would free him from Tanaka's burden and any further obligations."

Nodoka's crying suddenly stopped and her eyes became wide again, but before she could shout out, Ranma reached around Tofu and Kasumi and grabbed her hand. She looked at him as he stared back intensely. "Don't say anything, Mom. I will always be your blood son, and you will always be welcome to me. Trust me! Please!" he whispered fiercely.

Meanwhile, Hayato took a deep breath and continued talking: "While we cannot claim Ranma into our clan, we have no wish to completely sunder our connection to him. Therefore, we have commissioned an Honor Blade which he will bear for his true clan. The handle will bear the name Saotome, but the blade will bear the name of Ranma's clan." Ranma whipped his head around to stare at Hayato. Sanu knew Hayato was straying from the script, but not critically yet. Hayato continued: "It is with a heavy heart and the promise of an Honor Blade that we must release Ranma to the City of Nerima as its ward."

Ranma looked very confused, so Sanu figured it was time to finish this while the young man was off-balance. "Sorry, Ranma. You are underage. You do not become a ronin as you suggested," the judge said as he banged his gavel. "I now declare that Ranma, blood son of Nodoka Saotome, is now a ward of the city of Nerima, and due to his advance age and circumstances, is immediately available for clan adoption pending approval from the Court. Those wishing to petition the Court for consideration of adoption should submit their applications by 5PM Wednesday afternoon. Court is now adjourned."

Then the uproar began…..

* * *

Ranma sat stunned in a small private room in the Courthouse. Nodoka was holding him and had pulled his head onto her shoulder while crying over him. "Ronin, Ranma? Were things that bad?" she asked eventually.

Ranma sighed and lifted his head, "Mom, it was worse than that. You wanted me to be a man among men, but I couldn't even do that. A true man's Honor has to mean something to him, otherwise it means nothing. I couldn't carry your father's Honor – you couldn't either. My death would not redeem Shigeo and I couldn't be a Saotome and be tainted by Shigeo and Genma. I had to start from scratch. I want to matter – I want to make a difference."

Nodoka stopped weeping and looked softly at her son for a few minutes. Finally she said: "You have already made a difference in everyone's lives you've touched for the better despite the chaos that surrounds you. I know of no one who would choose not to know you. I think that's the greatest test of one's worthiness." She blew out a deep sigh. "All right, we will walk this path together if no one else will."

"I think other people will join us," Ranma told her. "I know Akane won't turn her back on me."

"Neither will Kasumi, Nabiki, and Ono," Nodoka added. "I wish I could say that about Soun, but sometimes I have a tough time reading him."

"I think he'll come around – he's come a long way himself," the young martial artist said.

There was a knock on the door and Judge Sanu let himself in. Ranma gave the judge a very direct look, but it wasn't accusatory despite his words: "You tricked me."

The judge nodded, but said "Only a little. You have tremendous potential and you have a long way to go. You need guidance. There was no way I was releasing you on your own. Besides, you are under age, and you need a family to support you."

"I have a family, Judge," Ranma stated.

"You have a girlfriend's family. You also need someone on your side too. Why don't you wait and see how this turns out before you judge me too harshly," Sanu told him.

"All right. Have things calm down now?" Ranma asked.

"A bit. Tanaka vanished in a royal rage. I may have an issue trying to find him when I need to lock him up for sixty days. The Saotome family is holding court for the Press in another room. They are doing a good job putting you and Nodoka in a positive light. Your friends are just down the hall waiting for you."

"I can still be around Ranma, can't I?" Nodoka asked.

"Nothing has happened that forbids that, Nodoka, so long as you behave yourself of course," the judge told her. "You are still Ranma's blood mother. Eventually, Ranma's birth certificate will have to be changed to remove Genma and update the clan father, but you will still be listed as his mother. There will be no adoption allowed that doesn't support your visitation rights. I doubt Ranma will be leaving the Tendo household anyway, no matter what happens."

"Are you sure Mr. Tendo will agree with that?" Ranma questioned.

"Trust me," Sanu returned. "In the meantime, it's time to rejoin the living. Your friends are waiting."

Ranma nodded and took Nodoka's hand, leading her down the hall to a waiting room. Immediately, Akane caught him in a fierce bear hug as the rest of the room began clapping and cheering. When Sanu said his friends were waiting, the judge wasn't kidding – The Tendos were all there (even Nabiki who skipped one class), Ono, Shizuka, Hideo, Yuka, Sayuri, Daisuke, Hiroshi, Ms. Hinako, Chie & Naoki, Ando, Imia, Ueda, Ojima, several other police officers Ranma knew well, Ryoga, Akari, Maomolin, Chiyoko, Ukyo, Konatsu, Mousse (who bore well wishes from Cologne), Ciren, Mausu, Daran, and several friends from school. There was also a smattering of other town adults that knew Ranma fairly well. All were there to offer Ranma support. Hayato Saotome had arranged for food to be sent to the gathering, and the bailiffs worked to keep the Press away while folks unwound after the Court show.

Eventually, Ms. Hinako rounded up all her delinquent students and ushered them back to the classroom (and the waiting gossip mills) except for Ranma and Akane. The rest of the gathering split up to attend to their own jobs/tasks except for Ranma's foster family, Kasumi, and Ono who accompanied Ranma and Akane out of the court building doors. When they got outside though, they found Soun Tendo waiting solemnly for them while puffing on a cigarette.

"Father?" Kasumi asked. "Are you all right?"

"I need to speak to Akane and Ranma alone for a minute. It's very important," Soun told the group.

"Father…" Kasumi started.

"Stop, Daughter. This is between Ranma, Akane, and myself. I'm afraid it doesn't concern you right now," the father answered firmly.

"All right," Ranma agreed. He held out his hand to Akane and she walked toward her father with Ranma.

Soun led them away just out of ear shot (supposedly) and then turned to the young couple. "I promised Kasumi that I wouldn't push the two of you into marriage, and I'm not going to," he said. They waited for the other shoe to drop. "But," Soun continued after taking a puff of his cigarette. "I really need to know these answers right now. Ranma? Do you love my daughter?"

Ranma looked Soun in the eye and answered "Yes, sir."

"Do you intend to ask her to marry you in the near future?" the father pressed.

"Yes, sir," Ranma answered again.

Soun looked at Akane. "Daughter, do you love Ranma?" he asked.

"Yes, Daddy," Akane answered softly (but with no hesitation).

"And if he asked you to marry him, would you say 'Yes'?" Soun asked.

"Yes, Daddy," she answered again while nodding her head.

Soun drew in deep from his cigarette and let it out again. "Fine," he said. Then he straightened his shoulders and looked directly at Ranma. "Ranma of Nerima, you are welcome to my house regardless of the clan name you bear. If you wish to marry my daughter, I will not oppose it. But if you want me to bless your marriage to my daughter, Akane, by attending your wedding, you must take the Tendo clan name as I did so many years before. I ask that you do this to honor Akane's mother, and to maintain the Tendo dojo in her name. Do you understand?"

The pig-tailed martial artist straightened up as he realized exactly what Soun was asking. "Yes, Mr. Tendo," Ranma answered formally.

"Fine," Soun echoed again. He held out a piece of paper to Ranma. "Here, hold onto this as a reminder of what I said." As Ranma took the paper, Soun started to walk away. Then he stopped and said over his shoulder: "Oh Ranma?"

"Yes, sir?" Ranma prompted.

Soun took another drag from his cigarette. "Try 'Soun', or 'Father', or even 'Dad'. If you ever call me Mr. Tendo again, I'll break your jaw." With that Soun walked away from the shocked couple.

As Soun left, the others rejoined Ranma and Akane. Tofu took the sheet of paper from Ranma's unresisting hands. "What is it?" Kasumi asked.

"It's an adoption application. Soun filled in everything but his signature," Tofu answered. "I'm guessing he was prepared to accept Ranma one way or another, but the bottom line is that you cannot marry your sister." Tofu added with a slight grin while looking at the still stunned couple. The rest of the group watched Soun's retreating back.

* * *

Soun stood silently in the graveyard looking at the Tendo family monument. Uncharacteristically, tears were rolling gently down his cheeks instead of flying from his face. "I did it, Love," he said quietly. "I managed to secure your legacy. I got you a worthy son who will help your Heir. The dojo will be in safe hands now."

Behind him, standing unseen, was a ghost. The ghost looked a lot like his youngest daughter, aged a decade or so. "My little idiot," she whispered to him. "Your daughters have already seen to my legacy. Indeed, they are my legacy, not the dojo. But if this is what you need to move on, so be it." Despite the fact that he could not hear the ghost directly, somehow, her words made it into his heart.

* * *

The old woman walked down the hallway towards Judge Sanu's office leaning heavily on her walking stick. When she stood outside his door, she banged on the door with her stick. "Yes?" a voice called out.

"Judge Sanu? It's Mrs. Ohayashi. We have a 4:30PM appointment?" the old woman shouted out.

"Yes, yes. Please come in," the judge called back.

The old woman opened the door and walked in to see the judge and his assistant, then closed the door behind her. A listener standing outside the door would have heard only low murmurings for a little while, followed by two shouts of astonishment. After a few more quiet murmurings, the listener would then hear the laughter of two men echoing loudly throughout the building…

* * *

A/N: Footnotes:

(1) It's been a while, so I thought I would remind folks: Kasumi and Nodoka made a bet between themselves back in Chapter 2 of "Ignition". The bet was that Kasumi could restore the Satome Family Honor and remove Genma as a consideration. If Kasumi was successful, Nodoka wouldn't be allowed to kill herself. Otherwise, Kasumi would be Nodoka's Second.

* * *

A/N: Next up: Applications


	7. Applications

Chapter 7: Applications

Ranma sat in Ms. Hinako's class writing down what the homework was. Admittedly, homework wasn't his favorite thing to do, but he was determined to graduate with Akane and he also wanted to go to college in a few years – he needed a decent transcript. He also wanted to re-start the dojo in the Spring, and that meant finishing school on time. Despite the illness and the court appearances, he wasn't too far behind – just a little math to catch up on (thank heavens his illness had happened during a school break). He had managed to knock off a lot of the earlier assigned homework during classes, so it was just Ms. Hinako's work and the calculus left. The way things looked right now, he had time to go home with Akane and spar before he had to get over to the clinic and help close up.

The Tendo house had cleared out a little, so there were fewer distractions. Ryoga and Akari had gone back to the farm this morning and would return late Thursday to be there for the next court date. Maomolin had taken Chiyoko away for more sightseeing and would be back late Wednesday. The Saotomes were staying at a hotel (except for Nodoka) and would be by for dinner, but they were not under foot. Nabiki had also returned to college and would not be back until late Friday (she felt Ranma had enough support in place and she needed to catch up at school). Genma was still at the zoo and seemed to be trying to settle in, so he was out of the picture completely.

As the class was preparing to leave, Ms. Hinako spoke up: "Mr. Sao.. I mean, Ranma? Please stay and see me after class for a few minutes?"

Ranma nodded, but groaned internally. Truth be known, he got along well with the teacher these days, especially outside the classroom (the teacher was a frequent visitor to the dojo now), but he was in a hurry. Still, she meant well, so he kept his mouth shut. Ranma also noticed that the teachers (and his friends) made a point of calling him Ranma now – no one addressed him as "Saotome" anymore.

"Ms. Tendo? You can either wait outside or in here, but if you wait in here, you have to stay quiet. And I mean it," the teacher said as she covered her fishbowl and resumed her child-form. Akane gulped silently as she realized the teacher really did mean it – she was now in her aura draining form. Hinako hopped up on her desk and indicated for Ranma to take a chair closer to her desk. The young man did so warily, but he didn't detect any hostility from the teacher – just a very no nonsense attitude.

"Ranma?" The teacher began. "I wanted you to know that my father and I will be submitting an adoption application for you with Judge Sanu. If it gets approved, I would become your older sister and de facto parent. There's no guarantee that it will - my father is a bit old, but I wanted you to know why we did it."

"I'm a little surprised, Ms. Hinako, but I'm honored," Ranma said cautiously.

She grinned at his hesitation. "Relax, Ranma. I know we are sometimes on opposite sides, but I have your best interests at heart."

"That I believe," he admitted.

"You would still stay at the dojo. You'd still be free to pursue your heart in all matters. I wouldn't interfere with Ms. Saotome and I'd have an excuse to visit more often," she said while casting a mischievous glance at Akane (who only raised an eyebrow). "There would be one major change though."

"Ah, the kicker," thought Ranma. "And that would be?" he prompted out loud.

"That you would be starting college in the Spring with Ms. Tendo," she said firmly. "Your scores are likely to be high enough to get you into any number of colleges and universities."

"But I need to get the dojo going, and there's not enough money to send myself and Akane," he argued. "Nabiki is currently attending, and Kasumi should get started as well."

"I am already financing two students, Ranma. I can afford to send my brother. I am an only child and my family has the money. It's not like I need to worry about my own children." There was a hint of sadness with the last statement.

"I don't want charity," he said stubbornly.

"No kidding. But if I was your sister, it wouldn't be charity," she said. "Besides, you have too much potential to waste. At the very least, you'll probably need two degrees – one in education, the other in business."

"There's no way I'm signing up for eight years," he said with an edge in his voice.

"You think?" she shot back. "but you could pick up two two-year degrees from a Junior college, and you could probably get everything done in three years with some courses counting toward both degrees. The costs would be lower too."

Ranma's brain was trying to keep up with the new ideas she was throwing at him. "Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"Believe it or not, because I am your friend and I want you to do well. You have a lot of potential as I said. Those two degrees would give you a lot of credentials in a short amount of time," she told him. Her speech was starting to speed up a little.

Part of Ranma couldn't believe he was having this discussion with Ms. Hinako, but he plowed on anyway. "So I could start college in a few years and follow that plan then. Why not wait?" he pressed.

"Because despite my shape, I'm very familiar with life, Ranma," the apparent pre-teen answered. "In a few years, you'll be worried about the dojo even more. You'll also be worried about starting a family. You'll be worried about your parent's health. Things will come up. I've seen this again and again with people through the years. Now is the time to start." She paused and then started again. "Besides," she said quickly and persuasively. "You'll have an easier time attracting students if people know you are in college now. They will see that you can plan and look ahead – that you are settling in for the duration."

"But, that won't happen if I cannot teach because I'm attending college," he countered.

Ms. Hinako smiled internally as she consciously upped her speaking speed, sounding a little hyper as she said: "Well then, you can go to school part time, and teach part time. Even taking one course a semester will move you along, especially at a junior college. The financial drain will be even less."

Ranma was trying to keep up with the change of momentum again. "But I can probably manage to fund one course myself. You don't need to feel that your family has to adopt me to pay for my education," he said.

"Got him!" the teacher thought. "Oh no!" she said brightly and very animatedly. "I want my family to adopt you because I'm fond of you, dear student, and the thought of you as my little brother amuses me. Getting you to agree to start college in the Spring is just a bonus, which you just did."

"Wait! I agreed to what?" Ranma asked. Akane clamped her mouth shut to hide her smile.

"You just said that you could probably afford to pay for one course next Spring, so you can start college then, regardless of the adoption," Hinako said rapidly. "Since it is only one course, you'll have plenty of time for the dojo. It sounds like a good idea to me. The three of us should probably sit down later and discuss what colleges would work for you two. We should meet sometime next week after Judge Sanu rules on the all the adoption applications."

"Applications?" Ranma questioned trying to keep up.

"Oh, I guarantee my family is not the only one filing papers," she said off-handedly while still speaking in a hyperactive fashion. "The chance that we will end up related is slim, but I would like it if it happens. If not, I am still your friend, and more importantly, I know you'll start college in the Spring now. You see, once you start something, it is in your nature to see it through. Now, I have to run and drop off the application. I'll also be checking on colleges and the tests dates this evening. We'll talk about it next week. See you tomorrow!" With that, the little teacher buzzed out the door.

Ranma turned and looked at Akane in confusion. The young woman's eyes were full of mirth from watching the teacher's expert handling of Akane's boyfriend. "What just happened?" he asked.

"You just agreed to start college part-time in the Spring, Ranma," Akane told him while trying not to laugh. "And Ms. Hinako told you she looks at you as a younger brother despite being your teacher. We need to keep that last part to ourselves until after we graduate. And I need to make sure Kasumi sends a wedding invitation to Ms. Hinako. She's going to be part of our lives no matter what, so we might as well suck it up." The laughter started to escape from her as his confused look continued.

* * *

Hideo raised an eyebrow at his wife as Shizuka placed the adoption application in front of him. "You have to be kidding," he stated with amusement. "You want to adopt a boy who causes Tarot decks to fly from their users' hands and I Ching coins to become perpetual motion machines?"

"He needs a father in his life," Shizuka pressed.

"For Ranma, 'Father' is a curse word – and with good reason," Hideo pushed back.

"Yes, but he respects you even though you are not a fighter. And because you are not a fighter, he's not likely to enter into one of those silly one-upmanship competitions with you. He listens to you without issuing a challenge," she said with honey dripping from her voice.

Hideo's expression became even more amused. "He is a Wind mage," he stated. "He's my antithesis. Of course, he and I are going to end up in contests. He's just too busy playing with Tofu right now."

"But we can give him the stability he needs," she said persuasively.

That caused Hideo to burst out laughing. "He's a Lord of Chaos – he attracts it. Instability only makes him stronger."

"Bull! He seeks stability; he seeks comfort. He wants to settle down. He's only eighteen and he's already world-weary. That's one of the reasons marrying Akane appeals to him," she retorted.

"I'd say wanting to marry Akane proves my point, not yours," Hideo grinned back at his wife.

She swatted him with a newspaper for that comment. Shizuka was very protective of the Tendo daughters, but she privately had to admit that her husband was right on that one.

Hideo laughed again, but sobered up and grabbed his wife's hand. "I think he'd probably be better off with Tofu," he told her seriously. "He's closer to Tofu than he is to us."

Shizuka saw that her husband was now ready to really discuss the matter, so she dropped her wheedling. "No, I disagree, Love. Tofu is too close to Kasumi. He's too tied into Akane's family already. Ranma needs somewhere outside the dojo that he can claim – at least for a little while. Besides, Tofu can act like a big kid sometimes and…"

"And…" Hideo prompted.

"And the thought of abandoning Ranma to those puppies bothers me. Ranma is human. He doesn't have Tofu's wild side for dealing with the Kitsunes," she finished.

Hideo thought about that point silently to himself: "The real problem, Love, is that you don't think anyone will ever be good enough for Kasumi, Kimiko's daughter. But Tofu is a good man. He acts like a big kid sometimes but that's because the other times he has to be the most sober one in the room. He's dealt with a lot of crap the rest of us have never dreamed of. Yes, he is part Kitsune, but he's mostly human too. Besides, in a contest between the Kitsune nation and Ranma, I'd honestly bet on Ranma's wild side triumphing over the Kitsunes. Still, that's neither here nor there for this discussion…"

Out loud, Hideo said: "I'm not sure I agree with you, Love. However, I think we should fill out the application."

Shizuka immediately leaped into his arms and hugged him, despite the fact that he was sitting down. "Whoa! Whoa!" he cautioned her. "We will probably not be awarded custody. My guess is most of Ranma's friends will apply too. And Ranma's almost a man legally – I'd argue he is already there in many ways. This is not the same as really adopting a child, which we may want to consider for real before we get too much older. I just think we should let him know we have his back any way we can and that includes clan adoption. O.K.?"

She pulled back and looked at her husband. "Are you serious about wanting to adopt a child, too?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yes, but we need to survive the Storm first," he said soberly. "That will take most of our efforts for a bit. However, I think that will happen in the next twelve months and we need to plan for a life beyond that."

She hugged Hideo fiercely and said: "Thank you!" Hideo returned the hug without a word. After a minute or two, Shizuka release him. "All right," she said. "First order of business…"

"Yes, Love?" he answered.

"SIGN RIGHT HERE!" she ordered tapping on the form's signature box.

* * *

"It's just wrong," Sayuri complained to Yuka.

"It's a clan adoption," Yuka explained patiently to her friend. "It's just a show of support for Ranma, an offer of a little stability to him, and the chance to add a little color to your family tree. My own Family Registry has to be the most boring thing on earth."

"Somehow, I don't think those are your parent's thoughts," Sayuri commented.

"Well, Dad thinks adding Ranma to the Registry will gain the family business some clout with the town. Mom's just fond of Ranma and doesn't want him to be without a family. Hiroshi's family knows Ranma a lot better, so they are doing it solely because they like him," Yuka said.

"Daisuke's father doesn't want to have to pay for another college education," Sayuri said. "But his Mom is arguing that Ranma won't accept the money anyway, so it's a moot point. Daisuke thinks it would be amusing to call Ranma his brother and sister."

"I think Daisuke is asking for a mouth full of broken teeth, but I think his mom is right. Mr. Pride wouldn't accept a dime," Yuka added.

"It's still wrong…" Sayuri repeated.

"Why on earth is it wrong?" Yuka asked.

"Because if my family adopted Ranma, he'd be my brother and fantasizing about your brother is just creepy…" Sayuri said with a shudder.

* * *

Mousse watched as Cologne's face paled and then became bright red. He quickly decided that it was a good time to do inventory and walked quietly to the pantry.

"Are you out of your mind!" Cologne said harshly to Shampoo. The elder ripped up the forms Shampoo had handed to her.

Shampoo was shocked at her Grandmother's reaction. "But Grandmother, then we could take…"

"We can't take Ranma anywhere," Cologne said haughtily. "Did you learn nothing about this country? Ranma is Japanese. There is no way the Japanese government is going to give one of their own to a foreigner, especially if there are hundreds of petitions to adopt him!"

"Hundreds of petitions? What petitions?" Shampoo asked confused.

"Every sensei and mage in this town will file an adoption petition to keep Ranma here. Every cop or merchant will think about filing, and many will. Every status-crazed Family will consult with their lawyers. And I'm not even mentioning Ranma's true friends," Cologne rattled off. "Any *one* of these would trump our request!"

"But this judge hates magic! He'd love to see the back of Ranma! You'd told me so yourself when he first showed up!" Shampoo protested.

Cologne sniffed: "He hates lies; he hates trickery; he hates superstition. He thought 'magic' was a sham to fool the gullible. Now he's seen proof it's real and he wants to understand it – Nerima has gotten under his skin. He fits in here. Besides – just in case this wasn't obvious – he actually likes Ranma. He doesn't want Ranma to go anywhere. When are you going to learn that people change? They grow or die!"

Shampoo looked at Cologne in shock. Cologne closed her eyes in annoyance and added: "And where would we take Ranma? The Village doesn't want him. He scares them witless. He beat Herb. He beat Saffron. Did you even *feel* what he did two days ago?"

"He made a little breeze blow…" Shampoo started.

"He made it blow across all of Nerima! Do you have any idea how much power that took? Of the masses involved? He shouldn't be able to walk right now after that 'little breeze', but he looks like he'd do it again in a heartbeat!" Cologne answered sharply.

"All the more reason to bring Ranma to China!" Shampoo insisted. "We need power!"

"Power?" Cologne mocked coldly. "We need a windmill – not a typhoon, child. You don't invite a natural disaster into your home. Even China wants Ranma to stay here."

"Huh?"

"In court yesterday, did you notice the tall golden-eyed man standing with Ryoga? He sort of looked like a cross between Ryoga and Ranma with about ten years added?" Cologne asked.

"Yeah…" Shampoo answered slowly. "He sort of felt familiar…"

"Yes, I bet he did, child," Cologne said condescendingly. "He's an old suitor of yours. That was Maomolin, the Cat Ghost." Shampoo's mouth popped open. "Judging from the pretty woman at his side, he's obviously gotten over you. But, somehow, someway he's now a guardian of Ranma and Ryoga. Both the Chinese and Japanese Spirit worlds want Ranma to stay in Nerima. And you think I'm going to cross them?"

"But Maomolim is not the entire Spirit world!" Shampoo pointed out. "And he's a coward!"

Cologne rolled her eyes and countered: "Back a coward into a corner and he'll come out swinging with all he has. And Maomolin is now a *physical* spirit. He's had a major power increase and it feels like he's now a guardian of several people – that doesn't happen without Others getting involved. Crossing him could lead to new converts for the Spirit World."

Shampoo was stunned at her Grandmother's assessment. Cologne continued: "Ranma is not one of us and he will never be one of us. I told you this is over! That is final!" Cologne turned her back on Shampoo and went to find Mousse.

Shampoo's eyes hardened. "Ranma will be one of us…the test will say so," she whispered. "Then you and the others will have to accept him… "

* * *

Toshio Kuno reviewed the adoption application form. As far as available resources went, he was a shoo-in to be granted custody of Ranma. Unfortunately, Ranma wouldn't know him from a hole-in-the-wall, and the young man was wise enough to know that money wasn't everything. Kuno laughed at himself. Truth-be-known, Toshio knew money wasn't everything, or he wouldn't be interested in the lad or the lad's mother. "But it does make misery more tolerable," he repeated the adage in his thoughts.

Besides, Ranma associated the name "Kuno" with Tatewaki and Kodachi, the banes of the young man's existence. Toshio knew that Ranma would never select his application, especially with Sanu standing over him. If Judge Kato was there, Kuno would get a better recommendation, but that wasn't happening; Sanu wanted to see the job done himself. Even so, Toshio doubted even Kato could put a positive enough spin on things to have Ranma smile upon the application. Toshio's niece and nephew had done too thorough a job.

Still, that wasn't the point – the point was to have Ranma become more familiar with Toshio's name, and recognize that Toshio was not the enemy. Kuno had made a point of having people mention just who was responsible for the appropriation of the large hospital room when everyone was recovering after the Summoning and who was responsible for getting Kasumi back in town as fast as possible. He was also having people note things that the billionaire did for the town. He did have people grumble about him too, so Ranma wouldn't smell a rat with the surplus of information suddenly available about the man behind the town (and Kuno could always count on the police to grumble).

"This way, if I manage to pull off that little coup at the DNA lab, he's at least heard more about me and will hopefully have a 'neutral' attitude toward me ('positive' is way too much to hope for)," Toshio thought to himself. "If the test switch doesn't work, I'll have to hope that the neutral attitude will be there as I try and make Nodoka's acquaintance. If Ranma doesn't at least tolerate me, Nodoka will never consent to actually go out for an evening with me."

He picked up Nodoka's file again and looked at the woman's photograph and read the new information in her profile regarding her family. Once more, Kuno laughed at himself for being a smitten fool. "I'm almost as bad as Tatewaki," he thought. "Ah, well. I'm human I guess. Let's see if I can at least manage not to annoy the lady with my attention. If so, I'll be well ahead of my poor nephew…"

* * *

The phone rang at Ucchan's again. Konatsu looked at his employer and she indicated he should get the phone again. "Hello, this is Ucchan's Okonomiyaki Shop," he answered. "Yes, 'Hello' again Mr. Kuonji….No, I am afraid Mistress Ukyo is not around right now…. No, I'm not sure when she'll be back. Honestly, I think she might have gotten sick of the local chaos and gone to visit a friend for a few days. She just told me to mind the store….Yes, sir, she did tell me to use the freshest butter." Ukyo rolled her eyes at this point. "Yes, sir, she mentioned that as well. No, sir. I'm not expecting any shortages; I'm well stocked…. Yes, sir, I have the griddle at half heat." Now Konatsu rolled his eyes. There was a long pause. "Do we have a FAX machine?" he repeated.

Konatsu looked at Ukyo who suddenly nodded fiercely, and grabbed a notepad. She wrote a FAX number down and passed it to him. Konatsu gave the number to Mr. Kuonji. After promising to "Take care of it", he said "Goodbye" and hung up. He looked at Ukyo and asked: "We have a FAX line?"

"No, the copy center down the street has one. I use that for the few times I need one," Ukyo answered.

"He didn't tell me what he was sending. He just asked me to run it over to the Nerima Court House," Konatsu told her.

"That chauvinistic JACKASS!" Ukyo hissed. "If he thinks he's going to do an end-run around me, he has another thing coming!"

"What's he sending?" Konatsu asked.

"Adoption papers for Ranma," Ukyo said with disgust.

Konatsu looked confused. "O.K., admittedly, trying to adopt your former fiancé is a bit 'out there'. But you don't want Ranma anymore for your husband. Would you really care if Ranma was your brother?"

"Strictly speaking, it would be weird, but I'd deal," Ukyo huffed. "The real problem is that Ranma is older than I am by a month or so."

Konatsu was a Kunoichi. That meant he understood traditions, especially family traditions. "There's a Birthright in your family – isn't there?" he asked.

"Yes! And it's mine!" she insisted fiercely. "But 'Daddy-dearest' wants to pass it to a son. I've given up on Ranma, but my father hasn't. He's determined to adopt Ranma and pass it to him, shutting me out completely. I need to get those papers and destroy them."

"But Ranma would never steal your Birthright! He's not Genma!" Konatsu insisted.

"No, he wouldn't, but he doesn't know there's a Birthright on the line and I really don't want to bother him or Akane with this right now – there are too many other things in play. When things settle down, I'll need their help. I need their wedding to be after my 20th birthday – or to at least keep it quiet until then. Unfortunately, if Ranma doesn't know about the issue, I could see the idiot accepting my father's offer because he might honestly like being my brother!" Ukyo explained. "My father wants to use you as a proxy since the adoption papers have to be hand-delivered to the Town Clerk. Thank god he's too cheap to hire a lawyer!"

Konatsu thought about that for a second and then replied: "O.K. so you pick-up the papers, burn them, and give me the ashes." Ukyo looked askance at him until he explained: "I promised your father I'd take the papers to the Court House – I never said what condition they would be in."

Ukyo smirked, ran over to him, pulled his head down, and kissed his forehead. She let go and ran for the door. "Back soon," she called as she ran out.

Konatsu smiled and said to himself after she was gone: "And then once I dispose of the ashes, I'll find Ranma. My dear Ukyo doesn't want to explain things just yet, but this is Ranma. All I have to tell him is that the Kounji adoption is a legal trap from her dad, and that's all it will take…"

* * *

Tofu Ono read through the Family Code articles again. There was a little vagueness in some parts, left up to the judges' interpretation. "I'm definitely not a lawyer," he thought. "But, I need to be safe rather than sorry. It might be easier for me to adopt Ranma if Kasumi and I did it together, but if Kasumi officially becomes Ranma's parent, there might be issues with a marriage between Ranma and Akane. I don't want the Kunos to have even a crack to pry into. I need to adopt Ranma solo and that's that. Besides, I'm not married yet. Kasumi as his 'step-mom' will not cause any issues – the law is clear about that at least." He pulled over the adoption form and began to fill it out.

He knew many of Ranma's friends were filling out the form as well, including Shizuka and Hideo. He wouldn't object if those two were awarded custody, but Shizuka could be a little possessive sometimes (Tofu had a momentary vision of Nodoka and Shizuka each having a hold of one of Ranma's arms and pulling in the opposite directions). Of Ranma's school chums, he could see things working well with Hiroshi's family, but not so much with some of the others. "Sayuri's family would be an absolute disaster," he thought. "Hinako might work well, so long as Ranma stayed at the dojo, but Soun might find his life a bit more interesting." Tofu grinned to himself at the thought of Soun having to deal with the woman-child on a more regular basis.

There were also many people in town filling out the forms as well. Many merchants were familiar with Ranma and saw him as a good investment – especially in terms of goodwill. Others, like Mr. Sakai, the fishmonger, and Mr. Saitou, the café owner, were genuinely fond of Ranma even if they jokingly said they were just trying to adopt him so they can get some work out of him. Tofu knew of at least half-a-dozen policemen/policewomen filling out the form as well. "Sergeant Imia's family is probably the best fit there," Tofu thought. "That would probably work out quite well."

Still, Tofu felt that he himself was best to serve as Ranma's guardian. Tofu had already contacted the head of his family, and obtained permission to try. Tofu was an old hand at dealing with young mages and had a lot of experience with young men in need of guidance (or just needing someone on their side). He and Ranma already had a good mentor-student relationship, and a healthy friendship. Tofu was sure the two of them could shape things into an uncle-nephew relationship without much effort. He knew Ranma didn't need a father-figure.

Now, he just needed to convince Sanu of that. Sanu might balk at having a single parent, even if this was just a clan adoption. For that matter, he might balk just because it was an Ono making the request. Still, Tofu would try. Hopefully, the judge would at least talk to him. If the judge didn't agree, then Tofu could try and steer the judge to one of the other applicants that would work.

"I should have a few ideas for some good recommendations before I go in there," the doc thought to himself before continuing on with the form.

* * *

A/N: Next up: Sorting the Piles


	8. Sorting the Piles

Chapter 8: Sorting the Piles

Ranma roof-hopped down to the courthouse as quick as he could without causing any damage. He wanted to get there early if at all possible. He had a 3PM appointment with Judge Sanu and he was curious to see one of Ryuu's traps in action. "I just have to be careful not to get in the way," he thought. Ranma made it down to the court house with about ten minutes to spare and walked up to the front desk. After exchanging a greeting with the clerk, Ranma was told that the judge was expecting him, but that Sanu was running a little late in court. The clerk gave him directions to the judge's office and told him to wait on the bench outside.

Ranma followed the directions and was soon sitting on a solid oak bench across from Sanu's office. There was five minutes to game time, so Ranma studied the hallway, looking for any signs of something amiss. Try as he might though, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He swept his surroundings with his mind, picking up people working in the surrounding offices, but no one was in Sanu's. Of course, Ranma knew that Ryuu could shield his aura, so it was possible the assassin was in the office.

There was a clock above Sanu's door, ticking down the moments to 3PM as Ranma noted the features of the hall in greater detail. "Is the trap already set?" he asked himself. "Or will it come on-line at 3PM?" Ranma watched as the seconds hand swept through the "12" on the clock. Immediately, the hair on the back of his neck stiffened. "Game on," he thought, "but where is it?"

Ranma considered getting up and looking, but this wasn't his Game. He was an observer only. As soon as he completed that thought, Sanu came into view. "My apologies, Ranma," the judge said. "My last case ran over because the couple decided to settle suddenly and I needed to get the settlement written down. Just as well. Sometimes, people really should just get on with their lives."

"No problem, Judge Sanu," Ranma answered as he stood up.

The judge nodded and took out the keys to his office. Suddenly the man stopped in the very act of touching the door. Ranma just watched curiously, but didn't say anything. Sanu gently touch the wood of the door instead of the handle he was reaching for. He turned to Ranma and said: "The door's booby-trapped. Back-up a bit." Ranma backed up without saying a word and just watched. Sanu walked over to a janitor's closet and took out a large floor broom. He then stood as far from the door as possible and whacked the door hard. The sound from the door was wrong – there was obviously some sort of mechanism attached to it. A puddle of clear liquid flowed out from under the door.

The judge looked at the fluid for a minute and then at the clock. "I've got two minutes left," he mumbled to himself. Sanu went back to the janitor's closed and returned with a metal mop handle. He laid it on the floor and slid it using his foot into the puddle carefully. Seeing no reaction, he picked up the far end of the mop handle, keeping the other end in the puddle. He then tossed his end at the handle. When it touched the door handle, sparks flew from the handle.

The door opened to show Ryuu standing there; he had a thick rubber glove on one hand. "Very good, Boss. Full points," the assassin said. "And twenty seconds to spare. You picked up on the electric field from the handle and felt the hum through the door."

"I didn't recognize that it was an electric field at first," Sanu answered. "Just that something was wrong as the key neared the door lock. I did pick up on the electric hum though. Why didn't you use a battery?" he asked curiously.

"It's harder to get the lethal power out of a battery, although not impossible," Ranma answered for him. "An assassin doesn't want to be seen carrying the battery or the electronics necessary to build up the critical power level. Electronics that you plug in are much smaller and easier to hide. Plus the idea is use what you find on-site and try to make it look like an accident if at all possible." (1)

Ryuu grinned at Ranma and clapped his hands silently. "Full points for you too. Did you figure out the trap before Sanu?" Ryuu asked.

Ranma shook his head and said: "I knew it was about. I felt something out-of-sorts exactly at 3PM. If I hadn't known about the Game, I would have investigated further, but I didn't want to get in the way. I couldn't see any evidence of the trap though. I would have had to actually examine the door to find it." The judge and his assistant just nodded their heads and Ryuu beckoned them both inside. The assistant then went about cleaning up the trap as Ranma and Sanu sat down at the desk.

"Well," the judge started. "We need to go through the applications quickly, and then I'll call the applicants you selected for interviews this evening and tomorrow morning. We'll wrap this up tomorrow afternoon and you can get on with your life again."

"No offense," Ranma said. "But I didn't think the court system moved that fast."

"For a standard adoption, it wouldn't," Sanu answered. "But this is a clan adoption. You'll be nineteen in a few months. You don't need a traditional set of parents – just a safe base of operations. Or rather a fall-back base." The judge grinned then. "I don't imagine you'll be leaving the Tendo dojo," he said slyly.

Ranma felt his face starting to blush and fought it down. "No, I won't be leaving. Mr. Tendo – I mean Soun – and I have reached an agreement regarding my courtship of Akane."

"Thought that might happen," Sanu said with satisfaction. "I happen to know a judge who would be willing to perform the ceremony as soon as the two of you turn twenty," he added busting the young man's chops.

"Great…You're just as bad as the rest of this town…" Ranma said sourly.

The judge just laughed and then opened a drawer. "Speaking of which…" Sanu said as he plopped a thick stack of papers on the desk in front of Ranma.

"What the heck is this?" the shape-changer exclaimed (changing the 'hell' to 'heck' since he was talking to a judge).

"It appears to be the rest of the town," the judge said smartly. Ranma saw that all these forms were applications for adoption – specifically for him. "You should pick out six I think. That's all I have time to interview and that should be enough."

Ranma stared at the large pile in shock until Sanu tapped him on the hand and then tapped the pile. Slowly, Ranma began shuffling through the pile – there were about two hundred applications there. Most of them were from married couples, although he did find Tofu's and Hinako's as well. He put those two on the side for consideration. He stopped for a second when he found Toshio's. "The Kuno family wants to adopt me? Are they out of their minds?" he asked.

"One could argue 'Yes' for most of them. Toshio Kuno is extremely sane however," Sanu answered him, keeping his tone carefully neutral. This was Ranma's life. He wanted to let the young man choose for himself (then Sanu would shred the paperwork). Ranma read the full application in bewilderment and then tossed it on the discard pile (much to Sanu's relief).

Ranma stopped when he came to Hiroshi's family and read the full application. He placed it with Tofu's and Hinako's. He paused over Sayuri's family and then discarded it. He also paused at Daisuke's family's application and read it. He then moved it to create a new pile. When he came across the application for Yuka's family, he held it for the longest time and then placed it with Daisuke's family. Sergeant Imia's application showed up after a few more paper shuffles and Ranma didn't even pause – he tossed it with Tofu's pile. He didn't pause when he found Mr. Kounji's application either – he discarded it. Inspector Ojima's application joined Yuka's and Daisuke's families'.

Suddenly Ranma broke out laughing – he was one of the few people in town who knew the Dojo Destroyer's real name. "Oh my god," Ranma said between laughs. "There would be nothing left of this town, but I am honored," he said as he tossed it on the discard pile.

"Actually, you should be," Ryuu told him while closing the door now that the trap was cleaned up. "You are well known in this town. That includes your good and bad points. These people know all about you and are willing for you to join their clan. Indeed, many of them want you to join their families. It's something you should feel very honored about regarding each and every family/person." Ranma stopped laughing and looked at the piles in front of him for a moment. Then he nodded and continued a little more soberly.

He couldn't stop the smirk from returning when he ran across the fishmonger's application though. "What's that one?" Sanu asked.

"It's from Mr. Sakai. He has been an adversary of my cat-side for a long time. In the application, he says he wants to collect for 'unfinished business transactions'," Ranma said dryly as he tossed the application in the pile with Yuka's and Daisuke's families.

"I'm not sure you should consider anyone just because you owe them money," Sanu cautioned.

Ranma chuckled. "You have to understand Mr. Sakai," he explained. "There are no unfinished transactions. He never tells me if my cat-side has ever stolen fish from him. I have to find out from his neighbors and force him to accept the money by either sneaking it into his till box or volunteering to help out from time-to-time. I've managed to learn the delivery schedule of his suppliers and to just 'show up' sometimes when they are around. He has two kids, a twin boy and girl, in the class behind me. The daughter use to have a crush on me until she spent half-a-day chasing my cat-side around trying to retrieve a fish. She got better after that and now I'm just friends with her and her brother." The two other men laughed and Ranma moved on.

Toward the bottom of the pile, Ranma came across Hideo's and Shizuka's application and sighed. He considered it for a while and placed it in the 'maybe' pile. Then he sorted through the rest, and did a quick review of the discard pile. When he was done, he had four 'definites' (Tofu, Hinako, Hiroshi, and Imia) and five 'maybes' (Daisuke, Yuka, Ojima, Sakai, and Jouda).

"So who is who?" Sanu asked.

"These are the people who are 'definites'," Ranma said putting a hand on the appropriate pile. "They know exactly what they are getting if I join their clan and are likely to cope the best. The other set is good, but I'm not really sure." Ranma pushed an application out of the other pile. "Daisuke's dad thinks I'm responsible for his son's behavior instead of looking in the mirror." Ranma pushed out another one. "Ojima is an inspector with a lot on his plate already." He pushed out one more. "The Sakai family is really nice, but I'm not sure how they would handle some of the situations I run into." He took applications from Yuka's family and the Jouda family and added them to the other four.

"Why did you hesitate on the last two?" Sanu asked.

"Yuka's dad is often not home – I'm afraid I'll end up the man-of-the-house, which would tie me down to two locations. On the other hand, she and her mom are a lot like Kasumi in that they are very understanding and can read emotions well, so that's a big plus – I don't have to keep explaining myself," Ranma answered. "Shizuka and Hideo are two of my teachers and they are great, but…" Ranma trailed off.

"But…" Sanu pushed.

"I think Shizuka needs a real child, not me. And I could honestly see issues between Mom and Shizuka. I'm afraid the Jouda family is a last resort," Ranma admitted feeling miserable about it.

"I think I understand that one," Sanu told him. "So, out of the other four, who is the best choice?"

"That's easy," Ranma said pushing Tofu's out of the stack.

"A busy doctor?" Sanu questioned.

"He already makes a fair amount of time for me – pretty much when I need it," Ranma shrugged. "He's already one of my teachers and a great friend. He also lets me help him when the situation arises. Neither of our lives has to change very much." Ranma gave a short laugh and said: "Besides, you'll want someone who can put me in my place occasionally – he's it. I get away with nothing around him."

"How do you feel about the ties that already exist between the Tendo family and Doctor Tofu?" Sanu asked.

Ranma shook his head. "It's not going to be an issue. He loves Kasumi very much, but he is always himself. He doesn't get involved between Akane and me unless I'm being a real jerk. Then he's just likely to tell me to grow up in so many words – once I calm down. If I try and have him back me up, he just says that it's up to me and Akane to work out. He won't back her up either. For that matter, Kasumi does the same thing to Akane and me as well."

Sanu nodded and asked "Who's second?"

Ranma looked at the three other applications. "I'm not sure. Now we come down to pluses and minuses. Miss Hinako has been my school teacher throughout high school. She's awful tough on me, but she does care a lot and my life wouldn't change much if she was my guardian. She can often be immature, but she's tough enough to handle the chaos that seems to follow me.

"Hiroshi's family knows me very well and we are comfortable with each other. The real problem is that none of them are martial artists, but if I stay at the dojo, that would probably not be an issue. And they have watched some of my adventures, so they know exactly what they are getting into. Imia's family is the reverse – while he and I know each other, the rest of his family doesn't know me as well. But he is a martial artist. He's also a cop and he knows how to handle trouble."

Ranma was silent for a few minutes and seemed to waver as he looked at the three applications. Finally, he said: "Hiroshi's family, Imia, and Miss Hinako. But it's close."

"Good enough," Sanu told him. "All right. Let me talk to them all, but please don't say anything yourself. Trust me on this – don't tell another soul what happened in this room. Not even your girlfriend or your mother. If they press you, say you had to pick out twenty people and I have final say on who I call. Don't let it be known that I forced you to rank them; it will only lead to hurt feelings. I've been dealing with situations like this a lot over the years - it's easier if I take the fall. That's a direct order. All right?"

Ranma just blew out his breath and nodded.

* * *

After Ranma left, Ryuu turned to Sanu and said: "That's not a coincidence."

"No, it's not," Sanu agreed. "She called it in exactly the right order, never mind that she got exactly the right people."

"Want to bet that she was right about Ranma taking the Tendo name eventually?" Ryuu asked.

"No, it is a sucker bet. That's why Soun Tendo's eyes lit up when I asked him if he would accept Ranma even if he wasn't Genma's son. Soun wants someone to carry on the Tendo name," the judge said.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Ryuu pressed.

Sanu shrugged. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Ryuu asked surprised.

"Nothing," Sanu repeated. "I have Ranma's input – that's what I really needed. I see no reason to call the individual families. If no one gets called, no one will know who Ranma picked and he'll take the secret to his grave now. I can announce my decision to Ranma tomorrow. Over all, I think everything will work out fine."

"So what do we do?" Ryuu asked.

Sanu stood up and came around his desk. "We are skipping the Game tonight and making dinner reservations downtown," he said. "We are going to find a reputable establishment to eat and drink in and watch the pretty ladies as they walk up and down the street, shopping in the different stores. If we have our usual luck and fail to attract the attention of some nice ladies, we will find a comfortable sports bar and enjoy the games there."

Ryuu looked surprised. "But Boss…" he started – just before Sanu reached out and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck on the way to the door.

"And you will be nowhere near that testing lab tonight when all hell breaks loose," Sanu finished while dragging his assistant out of the office.

* * *

Ranma sat up on the roof thinking about the decision he had to make today and wondering what the judge would do with his answers. Despite the fact she made no noise, he felt Akane land a little ways down from him and walk quietly towards him. "Are you all right, Ranma?" she asked softly.

He held out his arms to her and she sat down to nestle in his embrace. "It was a tough day, Akane," he answered her. "I've never had to evaluate people like that before."

She thought about asking him who he chose, then decided not to – she couldn't say if she didn't know. It was enough that he chose her. "Do you think it will work out?" she asked instead.

She watched as her boyfriend smiled gently and said "Yeah, I think it will be fine. And what about you?"

"Huh?" she said.

"Will you be all right married to a ronin?" he asked in a teasing fashion.

She dope-slapped him then, although it was a bit on the light-side. She immediately settled into his arms more firmly, tucking her head under his chin. "You're an idiot, Ranma of Nerima," she said with a slight sharpness to her voice. Her voice turned softer as she added: "You will never be a ronin – you will always belong to me…."

* * *

A/N: Footnotes:  
(1) I had a long detailed footnote here for AC versus DC electrocution and decided I was being silly. In general, given the exact same circumstances, 60Hz AC current is about 5x more effective at killing someone than a comparable DC current for a given path through the body. Send me a PM if you really want the in's and out's of it.

* * *

A/N: Next up: At the Lab


	9. At the Lab

Chapter 9: At the Lab

Shampoo let herself in the same vent again. On Monday, she had submitted Mousse's DNA sample and then followed up with the lab to see how long the testing would take. Her plan was to find Mousse's and Ranma's results and swap them. Unfortunately, she needed to access the computer in the post-processing lab to switch the results and print out new copies for post-processing. Fortunately, she had a list of computer commands to enter to get the job done. She had learned all of this by waylaying two of the post-processing techs (one-at-a-time) and administering a truth potion to them. Once she had the info written down, she wiped their memories of their time with her. She had also gone to the local library to practice on the public computers there – most of the commands were actual standard operating system commands. "I'm going to shove this notebook down Spatula Girl's throat the next time she calls me a dumb bimbo," Shampoo thought smugly.

She readied a sleep bomb as she neared the vent over where the two guards held their surveillance, but froze when she peeked through. Something was wrong; the guards were slumped over in their chairs. "Oh crap!" she thought. "What the hell went on here?" Shampoo let herself into the room by removing the grate and climbing down. She let out a sigh of relief as she checked the guards' pulses and found that they were alive. "Good – murder would have complicated things. All right, someone else is here, and I bet they are after Ranma's form - the time window is way too narrow for this to be a coincidence. But are they here to destroy it, change it, or switch it? I can let them switch it or change it, but I cannot let them destroy it."

She climbed up on the desk and moved a ceiling tile to the side. She knew from her last visit here, that all the walls stopped at the drop ceiling and the area above the ceiling tiles was completely open. "Not what you'd call good security," she thought. Shampoo threw a padded hook and rope to catch the upper crossbeams and climbed up, pausing long enough to replace the ceiling tile. She then climbed quickly through the upper bay's superstructure to where she knew the post-processing room was. As she went, she swept the area below her with her mind, but could find nothing unusual. "Could they have left already?" she wondered.

Whispering from the post-processing room answered her question. She suspended herself just above a light fixture and peered through a space between the fixture and the ceiling at the room below. She saw two men (obviously ninjas) sorting through the result stacks. "I've found Saotome's gene chart," one whispered to the other.

"Good. Give me the case number and we can change the file in the computer. Then we can get out of here," the other said. The first rattled off the number (which Shampoo wrote down on her arm) after the second sat down at the post-processing machine. Shampoo couldn't see the screen from where she was, but she could see the keyboard. She noted with satisfaction many of the commands the ninja used to manipulate the machine. While one ninja changed the computer files, the second ninja idly looked through the other CODIS results. Suddenly, he stopped and pulled out a test result. He moved over to his companion and placed the paper next to the keyboard. Shampoo could see that it was Mousse's result. She wrote down his case number as well. The ninja typing at the computer closed the file he was working on and made a printout. Once he placed the new printout back in the output stack, he vanished into the shadows. The second ninja followed him.

Shampoo debated how long to wait when she suddenly realized she was in trouble. They knew she was here! They had seen Mousse's result and realized something was up! The local gossip mentioned nothing about a need for Mousse to have a DNA test done! Quickly she climbed back up into the superstructure and began following the ventilation shafts as silently as possible. She knew the two would double back to the guards and make sure they were still out. Then they would find the dust disturbed from the ceiling where she climbed up. Crap!

The Amazon followed the vents until she found the central blower. She looked back toward the guards' room and saw a ceiling tile flip up quickly and two shadows streak into the darkness that hid her as well. She reached into her hair and took out a small metal comb, which she promptly jammed into the blower's control unit, shorting out the main relay. The fan turned on hard, filling the upper bay with noise. Shampoo immediately dropped a little box near the fan, leaped up to the crossbeams, and stealthily moved away from the fan. As soon as she heard the fan shut off, she clicked a remote in her pocket.

The resulting concussion charge knocked one of the ninjas through the ceiling into the office bay below. It also lit up the remaining ninja, but he had not been looking at the flash, so he saw Shampoo. He promptly through several darts at her, but she was already moving. Because he was by the tile his compatriot had crashed through, Shampoo could still see him and launched several of her own darts at him. He managed to catch two and dodge the rest. "Ah hell," she thought. "These guys are for real. I'm going to have to kill them to accomplish my mission and the place is going to get trashed. As soon as the police see that, they are going to order a re-test of everyone in process." She began to get angry then. "These jerks have already seen me too. They are going to see me as a complication and try to hunt me down. I need to take them out one way or another now." She threw a special knife directly at the ninja only to have him catch the blade. The blade immediately exploded in his grip, burning and slicing his hand. He screamed in pain and then jumped through the missing ceiling tile opening.

"I cannot let him get away!" Shampoo screamed to herself. She scrambled to the opening and then had to leap back into the darkness as a she heard the "pifft, pifft" of a blow dart pipe. "Crap, crap, crap!" she thought as she tossed another box through the hole. She heard a curse just before another concussion charge went off. Shampoo quickly did an aura check, hoping that the ninja was too rattled to maintain his cover. "Gotcha!" she thought as she crashed through another ceiling tile on top of the ninja. The ninja fired his darts into the ceiling, missing Shampoo. Shampoo stunned him with a quick blow to the head.

"Goodbye bitch," sounded coldly behind her. Shampoo spun and rose to see the first ninja she had knocked through the ceiling holding a small crossbow on her. She readied herself to catch the bolt and beat the tar out of the ninja. Suddenly, before she moved, the weapon vanished and the ninja screamed in pain. He quickly jumped over a cubicle wall and vanished. Shampoo spun back to the ninja she had knocked down, and was just in time to see him get up off the floor stiffly and vanish into the shadows.

"Hell!" she thought as she leaped up through the ceiling opening again, landing on top of a fake wall that held her weight. She dropped some flash-bangs near the opening and leaped back into the superstructure. Someone had just disarmed the crossbow ninja with the intention of saving her life! Someone else was in the building!

As Shampoo grappled with that thought, the building's public address system buzzed to life. "You have failed," a voice sounded. Shampoo couldn't place it immediately, but it was familiar. "The girl is mine to deal with. You are done. Leave now or face me." Shampoo heard the speaker hang up.

Again, the PA sounded. "Screw you!" was the response. Before they could hang up, the power died in the building. It was 7:51PM.

Shampoo crept slowly through the girders and beams of the superstructure. Shortly, she heard the clash of steel-on-steel in the central bay. It sounded like more than one fight going on. The Amazon moved quickly to the office bay and dropped down into a private office. She unlocked the door quietly and moved into the bay proper. She crept to the central aisle which was lit dimly by emergency lights and stopped in amazement.

Three ninjas were fighting, two on one. The one wielded *two* katanas against his opponents, handling the weapons as if they were light-weight sabres. The one ninja flowed like water, easily out-maneuvering the other two who were also armed with katanas. Shampoo could see the sweat pouring off the ninja pair, but the solo artist looked almost unconcerned even though the lower part of his face was covered. One of the pair fell back to throw darts at the dual-armed ninja, but one of the solo's swords flicked out and sliced the darts out of the air. The closer of the ninja pair (the one immediately under pressure) dropped a smoke bomb, but the solo ninja ignored it as his other sword nicked out and sliced his opponent from elbow to shoulder. The damaged ninja dropped his sword and grabbed his arm, staggering to the floor. The solo ninja turned on his remaining opponent and said: "You should never have left your wing man's side. Neither one of you has a hope against me separately."

The ninja dropped a smoke bomb and ran. Shampoo heard an exterior door fly open and someone running off into the night. "He who runs away…" whispered the victor. The victor turned back to the injured man. The other ninja had managed to stagger halfway upright and pulled out a small blow dart tube. As he put it to his lips, his opponent looked on unconcerned. The downed man made an effort to puff into his weapon, but a chair crashed into his head, thrown from somewhere offstage, much to Shampoo's surprise. The wounded ninja crashed to the floor unconscious. The victor called out, "Thank you, my friend, but that was unnecessary. Come out! I have lost this night, and so have you. Let us not remain hidden from each other." The ninja then turned to Shampoo and said in perfect Mandarin Chinese: "We have no need to fight, Miss Xian Pu. I'm afraid you too have lost – you cannot stop a re-test now. There's too much damage to the lab."

A young voice called out: "I have to do what I was told! I'll be with you in a second!" The ninja just shook his head but said nothing else.

"Who are you?" Shampoo asked.

The ninja reached up and removed the mask from his face. "Hello Miss Shampoo" the man said in perfect Japanese.

Shampoo looked on in shock. "W-waitress boy?" she stuttered.

Konatsu grinned and bowed to Shampoo. "Like you, I came to switch Ranma's CODIS profile. Unfortunately, that is impossible now," he said. "I'm afraid the next profile run will be under lock-and-key. It definitely will not be in Nerima."

"You can fight like that?" she asked stunned.

Konatsu shrugged his shoulders. "Not my best performance," he said, and then held up one of the blades. "It's not as good as the other. I bought the blade cheap and worked on sharpening and balancing it. Still, it did the job. I'm saving up for a better weapon." Shampoo sank to the floor in shock. A slight smile appeared on his face. Konatsu looked beyond the Amazon and requested: "Please help the lady up. We need to leave."

"Sounds good," a young voice answered. Shampoo turned around to see a red-headed boy about twelve years old approaching her. Konatsu tended to the fallen ninja and then placed his opponent on his shoulders. The boy tugged on Shampoo's arm until she got up. Then she allowed him to lead her out the emergency door.

Konatsu scanned the property for the runaway ninja. "He's long gone. Not a very reliable fellow," Konatsu commented. He led them toward a stand of trees and the neighborhoods beyond.

"How did you know I was there?" the young boy asked.

"After the merry chase your brothers and sisters led me on, I made a point of learning about your kind and looking for signs of your presence, but I bear you no ill will," Konatsu answered. (1)

"Likewise," the boy answered.

Konatsu nodded. "You know that they will throw out the results and do a re-test?" the ninja asked.

"Yes," the boy acknowledged. "But I was told to switch the papers, and that's what I must do."

"Unless you change computer too, it not work," Shampoo said quietly.

The boy leading her nodded. "I can take that back to my Elders. They caused the blackout, so they cannot blame me for not changing the machine. Meantime, I did exactly what they told me, and I did not cause the fighting. Good enough."

Konatsu led them through the shadows until they came to an empty park. They walked among the trees until the ninja stopped and placed his defeated opponent on the ground. "This is good enough. The drug I gave him will make him sleep until just before dawn. He can wake up safely here. His arm will need more tending, and he'll have a nasty headache when he awakes, but he will be all right."

Shampoo sighed and bent down to the fallen man. Konatsu and the boy watched curiously as she erased the last twenty-four hours from the man's mind.

"Was that necessary?" Konatsu asked.

Shampoo nodded. "Shampoo have to track down the other fellow. They know Shampoo enemy now."

"I'm not sure about that," Konatsu said. "Where did you get the CODIS profile from?

"I used stupid duck's", she answered.

"Oh. That wouldn't work anyway. They will automatically check the profile against Ms. Saotome's. They already believe it should match. If it doesn't, they would do a re-test," Konatsu answered.

"Damn," Shampoo muttered. "Where did Waitress Boy get a profile?"

"I snuck into the Ono clinic and made a copy of Ranma's female profile. Then I changed it to match a male. I don't want Genma back in Ranma's life. Now I'll have to wait and see what opportunities arise," Konatsu replied. "I didn't know about the computer though. That's a complication I'll have to work through."

Shampoo nodded and sighed again. She then leapt at Konatsu to erase his memory, only to find that he was gone. She spun to where the boy was only to find him missing too. "Forget it," she thought. "They are just as guilty as I am. They won't say anything, and Waitress Boy did 'save' my life." With spirits dragging, she walked back to the test lab so she could track the other ninja.

* * *

Toshio tried his best to control his temper as he listened to the ninja's report. Shampoo got in the way and the lab was trashed. Great, just great – automatic re-test. Worst yet, the cops would find the altered CODIS profile which could lead to Toshio now. He would need to have his own CODIS profile deleted, so the fake profile couldn't be linked to him. He couldn't attempt this trick again: complete and utter failure.

He debated having the ninja killed for abandoning his partner, but decided to wait. He had a suspicion who this "master ninja" was. If Toshio was right, the other man would turn up unharmed, but probably have his memory wiped. He'd also be curious if the "master ninja" had his memory wiped as well – Toshio would have to have a few people buy Okonomiyaki tomorrow.

He also debated having the ninja in front of him assassinated for nearly killing Shampoo. Toshio had specifically ordered "no fatalities". Had Shampoo been killed, things would have gotten dramatically worse – the least of which would be Cologne going on a tear and killing anyone involved. While Toshio was sure he could have protected himself, he would probably have lost a lot of good people and gained the enmity of the Amazon tribe – something he needed to avoid.

Finally, Toshio decided that some punishment was in order. He decided that if the man's partner survived, this ninja would be sent north to deal with Toshio's brother and his family. That should serve as a lesson for the others.

* * *

Tomo stood before the Elders and gave his report. He described the fighting and the condition of the lab. He was also proud that his voice was relatively steady.

"Did you do what we asked?" the North Elder questioned.

"Yes, Sir. I left the paper as you wished and removed the one I found. But, it's probably not the original one. The ninja who got away probably has that. I know that the ninja named Konatsu did not have it. Neither did the Amazon," Tomo answered while taking the paper he had out of his jacket.

The North Elder gave a large sigh. The paper vanished from the little Kitsune's hand and appeared before the South Elder who picked it up and examined it. The South Elder said: "It has Nodoka Saotome's profile. The second profile is unknown to me."

The East Elder shrugged. "So a switch was made beforehand and the computer was altered. It does not matter." He turned to Tomo. "Very well, little one. We find no fault in your performance. You have the 'Thanks' of your Elders. Please return to Lord Ono and make no mention of this to anyone."

"Yes, Sir," Tomo answered. "I'm sorry the mission failed."

"You have no need for sorrow, little one," the South Elder said. "Again, go with our Blessing."

Tomo bowed and left the chamber with a sigh of relief. He couldn't believe the Elders let him off like that. Now, he was just anxious to escape their scrutiny.

The North Elder cocked an eyebrow at his fellows…

* * *

Mrs. Ohayashi sat in her living room in front of the fireplace. She held a glass of brandy as she sat in her comfortable chair and stared into the flames. Then her eyes focused on the present and she shook her head. "Silly puppies," she snorted as she took a sip. "Will they ever learn?" she added with a roll of her eyes.

* * *

Inside the trashed lab, the blackout ended. The lights flickered on, showing a number of tiles missing from the ceiling and weapon marks on the walls and cubicles. In the security room, two guards continued to sleep. Amazing enough, there were no alarms going off, despite the open emergency door. The lights in the post-processing room also flickered on showing a neat stack of papers arranged by the now-departed Kitsune. Interestingly enough, the stack seemed to flicker with its own light.

Slowly the emergency door gently closed and was re-armed by unseen hands. In the side room, the post-processing computer started its boot routine. Slowly the fragments of ceiling tile rose into the darkness of the upper bay. The fragments reassembled themselves in the darkness and the repaired ceiling tiles fit themselves back into place. The discarded darts became dust and blew away. The walls and cubicles healed of the sword cuts and other battle damage. Ripped and torn posters repaired themselves. In the security room, the dust blew away, removing the evidence of intruders.

In the post-processing room, strings of commands typed themselves on the computer screen and files were changed. File timestamps were altered, and then history files were cleared of any changes before 7PM. Back in the security room, the alarms came back on-line and images appeared on the security tapes showing another boring Thursday night – no ninjas and no Amazons. Finally, the guards woke with nothing but memories of a boring three hours.

The flickering faded from the stack of forms. The guards noted nothing unusual during the shift change at midnight. The two men left their replacements to have a peaceful night…

* * *

A/N: Footnotes:

(1) During the story "The Date", in Chapter 9, Konatsu mentioned having run-ins with the young Kitsunes overrunning the Complex.

* * *

A/N: Next up: "The New Clan"


	10. The New Clan

Chapter 10: The New Clan

Ranko woke up in Akane's bed on top of the covers and reached over her girlfriend to shut off the alarm. Akane stirred as well and started to move as Ranko leaped out of the bed. "You didn't sleep well?" the blue-black haired girl asked.

"I slept well enough, but I'm on edge," Ranko answered.

Akane didn't press for details. Instead she asked: "Are you up for sparring this morning?"

Ranko turned with a wicked gleam in her eyes. "You are not getting out of your beating. Get up, Tomboy!" the red-head ordered mockingly.

Akane growled back: "So much for trying to offer you any sympathy. Die Ranma!" Akane leaped from the bed and caught Ranko about the waist. The pig-tailed girl was thrown against the floor and the house shook.

"OUTSIDE!" Kasumi yelled from downstairs.

The two girls laughed and then split apart. Ranko said: "I'll meet you outside. I want to switch." Akane nodded and turned to find her gi as Ranko ran out the door and down the stairs. Ranko ran into the kitchen, kissed her mother on the cheek, said "Good morning!" to Kasumi as she grabbed the cup of hot water from the cook's hands, and dumped it on herself.

"Thanks Kasumi!" Ranma called out as he ran out the door dressed in his own blue gi.

"He must have put the gi on last night before he switched genders," Kasumi mused.

"So long as he put on clean underwear too," Nodoka added.

"I think I need to have Akane see the GYN a little earlier than planned if those two keep sleeping together like that," Kasumi continued.

Nodoka just shrugged. "Not if he keeps switching forms before bedtime. I'd worry about it except I've caught them kissing a few times, and it was definitely male/female action. I think they are both still shook-up from the Summoning, and they are afraid to leave each other's side again. Let's let things settle and we will see." An eyebrow shot up. "I know you put condoms in Akane's room. That will do for now."

Kasumi blushed. "Just preventing accidents."

"And if I wasn't on medication, I would have put pin holes in all of them," Nodoka said. Then she pursed her lips and added: "You know, that still might be a good idea."

"AUNTIE!" the younger woman protested.

Nodoka laughed. "Just teasing, love."

A short time later, the two women heard the front door open and Tofu shouted "Good morning!" They both answered and the doctor joined them in the kitchen. His face looked a little worried though.

"Is everything all right?" Kasumi asked.

"I never got a call last night," he answered.

"From who?" she asked.

"Judge Sanu. I was hoping he'd at least call me to sound out who would be a good choice as a guardian for Ranma. I can accept that he might not want a single person, but I was hoping that he'd at least consult with me. I am Ranma's personal physician. Did he call here at all?" Tofu asked.

"No," Kasumi answered while Nodoka also shook her head.

"Shizuka and Hideo never heard anything either," Tofu said. "Neither did Imia or several other people I checked with. Did Ranma say anything to either of you last night?"

"No," Nodoka replied. "He just came back from working at the clinic, sparred with Akane, had dinner, and spent the rest of the night on the roof. He was obviously stressed, but when I quizzed Akane, she just said there was nothing any of us could do and we'd just have to wait it out with him. When I pressed Ranma, he just answered that it had been a tough meeting with the judge looking at all the applications, but he wouldn't say anything about any final decisions. Maomolin checked on him and said things were as good as could be expected."

"What did Ryoga say?" Tofu asked.

"He and Akari will not be by today until after lunch," Kasumi said. "They were delayed at the farm and couldn't come down last night. Sanu will make a ruling at 4PM unless the lab is delayed, so they will be here on-time. Sanu would like Ranma's CODIS profile checked before he makes a formal announcement."

"Are we sure Ranma cannot be linked to Genma with the DNA test?" Nodoka worried.

Tofu shook his head. "Genma's not in the database – I checked. Whatever happens, that's not a worry."

"Then we just have to wait," Kasumi stated.

* * *

Ranma ran to school with Akane by his side. They leaped over his nemesis's property front, and noticed that she was outside wetting down her walk. Ranma almost swore that she was watching them. Certainly, everyone else was. As they ran, Ranma noted that everyone who submitted an application along the route was out. He made a point of calling out to them by name and saying "Thank you!" He never said for what, but it was obvious from their smiles that they understood. He was amazed at how many people he actually knew in the town. There were no strangers in the applications he saw yesterday (with the exception of Kuno, who he knew only by reputation). Ranma also saw some folks in cars pass by (including Hideo, who beeped lightly) and he made a point of giving a proper salute to them as well.

In school, he didn't talk to anyone about the adoption, but he did squeeze a few shoulders in thanks. The recipients just smiled as well. Ukyo made a point of leaving him alone, but asked Akane to give him a hug from her. Daisuke and Hiroshi exchanged handshakes with Ranma, but Sayuri and Yuka wouldn't settle for anything but hugs (which caused Ranma's face to flame). Neither did Ms. Hinako at the end of the day when Ranma stayed after with Akane to thank her. The teacher covered her fish, gave the blushing young man a hug, and sent the two teenagers on their way.

As they left the school grounds, Akane grabbed Ranma's hand and dragged him off downtown over his protests. "Forget it, dummy!" she scolded him. "You're too distracted – you need ice cream more than a fight. I'll call Kasumi and we will join them on their way to the courthouse."

* * *

Sanu looked at the CODIS report the courier dropped off. He was amazed that there was no disruption reported at the lab last night, but he would take what he could get.

"Is that it?" Ryuu asked. "At Sanu's nod, Ryuu continue: "Any change of plans?"

"No," Sanu answered. "Everything looks good. Genma's officially out of the picture. Once Ranma's attached to his new clan, things should calm down."

"Fat chance!" Ryuu laughed.

* * *

Judge Sanu called the Court to order. Once more, the courtroom was full – despite the fact that this was a lecture hall instead of a proper courtroom. The audience contained everyone who had filed an adoption application (including Kuno, Sanu noticed with distaste), Hayato Saotome, all the town elders, Ranma's friends and family, Sanu's fellow judges, and as many town folks as space allowed. The Judge's Bench was setup near the back wall and was centered with respect to the hall's width. The Defendant's table was off to one the side. Ranma sat at the table with his mother and Akane. There was no Plaintiff's table.

The judge looked at Ranma who nodded back, so Sanu called out: "We are here to settle the adoption of Ranma of Nerima, a ward of the Court. Does anyone have any relevant evidence or testimony to bring to the Court regarding this matter?"

Ranma was about to call out when someone yelled from the back: "I do your Honor! Ranma should be released to me as the Saotome family has pledged the genetic son of Nodoka Saotome to marry my daughter. The pledge was made by their representative, Genma Uchida, Ranma's sire!" Hajime Tanaka came down the auditorium steps carrying an eight year old girl.

The eight year old was struggling in his grip. "Father! Stop!" she yelled. The girl had long raven black hair and porcelain skin. Her large dark eyes were set in a heart-shaped face. No one would deny that she was a beautiful child.

A woman was screaming just out-of-sight. "Hajime! Bring back my daughter, you bastard! She's only eight!" The woman burst through the doors at the top of the hall. She looked much like her daughter.

Tanaka ignored the woman and stepped onto the floor. The Judge said nothing as Tanaka placed his daughter center stage and had her face Ranma of Nerima. "Ranma, your bride is here!" he sneered.

Ranma looked at Tanaka with contempt, but his eyes softened as they shifted to look at the little girl. Ranma held out his hand to Akane, and the two of them rose and walked around the Defendant's table hand-in-hand. Sanu gestured at Tanaka and Ryuu (disguised as a bailiff once more) placed Tanaka in an arm-lock. The assassin slapped a large hand over Tanaka's mouth and then pulled him away from his daughter. Tanaka's wife tried to step onto the floor to get her daughter, but Hayato grabbed her shoulders. When the woman turned to look at Hayato, he shook his head. She looked askance at him, but did not fight him.

Ranma and Akane approached the wide-eyed little girl and Ranma dropped to one knee to talk to her on her level. Akane placed her hands on Ranma's shoulders. Ranma responded by placing one of his hands on Akane's. "Hello," Ranma started.

"Hello," the little girl answered shakily.

"I am Ranma of Nerima," the shape-changer said. "This is Akane Tendo," he added glancing up and squeezing Akane's hand.

The little girl's eyes widen even further and she asked quickly, "Is she your girlfriend?"

"Yes," Ranma replied.

"Are you going to marry her?" the little girl pressed hopefully. Akane stifled a chuckle. Tanaka tried to say something, but Ryuu wouldn't let him.

"Well, I'm going to ask her, and hopefully she'll say 'yes', but that is my plan," Ranma answered not suppressing his own chuckle.

The girl let out a sigh of relief. "Oh good. Father said I had to marry you, but I don't want to marry anyone right now."

"You don't have to," Ranma told her. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Aimi," she answered.

"Well, Aimi," Ranma said. "People have been telling me and Akane who we are going to marry for a long time now, but they are all wrong. We are going to marry who we want and that's it. It just happens to be each other. The same applies to you – you can marry who you want. In fact, when the Court is over, Akane and me will give our contact info to your Mom, and she can hold it for you. If someone ever tries to force you to marry or if you or your Mom find yourselves in any other trouble, you can come to us and we'll help you."

Tanaka slipped free from Ryuu at that moment. "You'll marry who Honor dictates! And Aimi will as well. Your father and I made a deal!" he yelled.

"Genma Uchida is not my father," Ranma answered calmly.

"WHAT!" Tanaka screamed in rage. Aimi took an unconscious step away from her father. Akane bent down next to Ranma and pulled Aimi to her. Aimi backed further into the older girl's embrace, shocked by the emotion from her father.

"ORDER!" Sanu bellowed, his voice overshadowing Tanaka's rage. Into the stunned room, he continued loudly: "The CODIS test provided no link between Ranma of Nerima and Genma Uchida. Genma Uchida was never married to Ranma's mother. Under any jurisdiction, by any culture, the evidence says Genma could not and cannot make any agreements on behalf of Ranma of Nerima."

Tanaka yelled: "That's impossible!"

Ranma stood up, but put a hand on Akane shoulder as she sheltered Aimi against her father's anger. "No, it's not, but it doesn't matter anymore. You won. Shigeo Saotome has been disgraced and is now ronin. He must survive by the charity of others – he has nothing. His daughter is gone. Hayato is now the head of the Saotome clan and you have no vendetta against the clan anymore. Hayato has picked up a sister, but he hasn't gained a nephew. Ranma Saotome is gone. Shigeo has no successor. Face it, it's over and you won. Time to move on."

"No! That's not the fate I decided for him. His line must be corrupted – and it must be by my blood!" Tanaka shouted.

Ranma started to say something about Nodoka being of Hayato's line, so there was no line to be corrupted now, but Tanaka's wife cut him off: "CORRUPTION?" she yelled breaking free of Hayato's light hold. "CORRUPTION?! THAT'S WHAT OUR DAUGHTER IS? A CORRUPTION?!"

"Shut up, Ami. I have taken care of you. You have plenty of money," Tanaka said.

"YOU BASTARD! I don't need your money! Never have! I was doing well before you, and I've done well as you spent all your time roaming around the country. I'll do well when you are gone. I married you because I loved you and thought you loved me. Gods…I am such a fool," she cried.

Tanaka looked confused at his wife, but said nothing. Ami turned to her daughter and said: "Come Aimi!"

Akane nudged Aimi towards her mother and the girl went in a flash, avoiding her father. The two left the floor and went up the stairs. Everyone was silent as they went. When they were about halfway up, Akane turned to Hayato and pointed after the retreating pair, then made a "shoo'ing" motion. He looked confused, so she rolled her eyes and ran over to him, then whispered in his ear. That seemed to wake him up and he ran after the mother and daughter. She gave a sigh and walked back to Ranma's side.

Sanu waited until Hayato was gone and then turned to Tanaka. "Now that you have finished trashing your wife's and daughter's lives, do you have anything else you'd like to say? Want to swear vengeance against Ranma, even though he's never raised a hand against you – even now? He should swear it against you – you've destroyed all his illusions and made him an orphan. Congratulations, you've destroyed his life too."

Tanaka snapped out of his lost state. "He deserves it for being Shigeo's grandson!" he said.

"Then you're done now," Ranma told him evenly. "I'm no longer Shigeo's grandson. I'm going to lick my wounds and pick up the pieces. You are not worth swearing vengeance against. You won. Now go, unless you are going to grab a sword and kill me."

Tanaka looked at Ranma in further confusion. Ranma looked back at him with a blank expression – neither friendly nor hostile. Slowly, an expression appeared on Tanaka's face – it appeared that Tanaka saw Ranma for the first time. Ranma was not Genma's son, and not a Saotome. He was just a person. Tanaka looked around the courtroom. People just stared at him. He saw no hatred, no disgust – they just wanted him to go away so they could get on with their lives. He looked at Ranma again who shrugged at him. He wanted to hate the young man, but he had no reason to hate him. Ranma had been a tool, nothing more and nothing less. Now the tool was useless.

Tanaka looked at Nodoka. He thought he would see pain in her visage. She was now an orphan herself and had to be adopted by the Saotome family. Her son was no longer her son according to the Family Registry. Her father had confessed to effectively killing her sister. Now, her father had been punished, but Tanaka saw none of that in her face. She held the same expression as everyone else – she was waiting for Tanaka to leave so she could pick up the pieces and move on.

Tanaka felt betrayed by their reactions. He was counting on their hate and their pain to set against his own. All his work and he felt as empty as ever. He wanted to just stand there and be an obstruction, to cause someone a little more difficulty.

Judge Sanu asked again: "Mr. Tanaka? Do you have anything else you want to say? If not, please leave the floor." The judge waited, but Tanaka did not move. So Sanu ordered: "Bailiff, please escort Mr. Tanaka off the floor. You might as well take him down to holding. He owes me sixty days in jail for wasting the Court's time as he is not Ranma of Nerima's father and knew he was not Ranma's father." A bailiff came forward and tried to gently guide Tanaka, but the man refused to move. Two other bailiffs came to help, but again Tanaka refused to move. He didn't fight the bailiffs, he just didn't move. Finally, the bailiffs picked him up and carried out the unresponsive man.

Once they left with Tanaka, it was like a spell had been broken in the Courtroom and everyone began to murmur at once. Sanu seemed to shake himself and ordered a fifteen minute recess. Akane turned to Ranma and asked: "Ranma, what just happened?"

"I think we just saw what happens when a man loses his reason for living," Ranma answered sadly. "Tanaka won, and now he hasn't the slightest idea what to do with himself. No one reacted to his win. No one hates him enough to swear vengeance. No one will give him their pain for his satisfaction. His wife just left him and he feels nothing. Shigeo was right – without Shigeo, Tanaka is nothing."

* * *

Sanu called the Court back into session. "All right, let's try this again: We are here to settle the adoption of Ranma of Nerima, a ward of the Court. Does anyone have any relevant evidence or testimony to bring to the Court regarding this matter?"

Ranma waited a second and then stood up to say: "Your Honor, if it may please the Court, I do have something to say." Tofu had coached him on the wording.

Sanu nodded (having been warned by Ranma) and gestured to the center of the floor. "All right, please come to the center of the floor and address the Court."

Ranma walked to the indicated spot and faced the audience. Sanu (again warned by Ranma) said nothing about the breach of protocol. Ranma started: "All of you know me, or you wouldn't be here, so you know how eloquent…" (Ranma stumbled a little on the word) "I am." There were some chuckles from the audience at that. "I told Akane what I wanted to say, and she helped me take a few rough edges off, but I'm probably going to muff it. Please take it as I mean it, not as I say it."

Ranma continued: "Yesterday, I had to do the hardest thing I ever did; I read through all the adoption applications everyone submitted. I have never been humbled before, but I am now. I arrived in Nerima over two years ago bringing my own brand of Chaos to a place that was already full of Chaos." There were more chuckles from the audience. "All of you accepted me despite my strangeness. Now you've all gone one step beyond that and invited me into your homes and into your families. There are no proper words to say how grateful I am and how honored I am. I have only these words and this gesture: 'Thank you' to all of you from my heart!" With that, Ranma did something he rarely ever did – he bowed deeply to the audience. He bowed to the left side of the lecture hall, he bowed to the center, and he bowed to the right side. The applause started as Ranma started his bow to the center continued after Ranma finished the third bow.

When Ranma rose the third time, he stood with his head slightly bowed, unsure of what to do. The applause continued until Sanu finally decided to rescue the young man. Sanu banged his gavel and called the Court back to order. "All right, those who want to have a recording of one of the few times Ranma has acted humble can send 2000 yen to the Court after this session is adjured."

Laughter greeted the comment as Ranma blushed. Nabiki shouted out "NO FAIR!" which caused the audience to laugh harder (Nabiki had managed to make it to the late Court session after all). Sanu waved Ranma to take his seat and the pig-tailed young man gladly did so.

"All right," Sanu said. "I did make Ranma sweat over those applications, but ultimately, the Court is responsible for the final selection as Ranma's guardian. I made a decision this morning, but I was waiting for news from the DNA lab, before finalizing things. Turns out, it was a good thing I did." The audience went quiet suddenly. Sanu turned to Ranma: "Is there anything about you that is simple?" Akane was too polite to say what popped into her head – besides Ranma didn't need the abuse right now.

Ranma groaned and slunk in his seat. "Great, what fresh hell is awaiting me now?"

Sanu smirk at Ranma and said: "Turns out CODIS returned four hits against your profile."

"Excuse me?" Ranma said.

Sanu continued: One was the expected 50% match against your mother – no surprise there. Another was a 50% match against a man who died in 1970 – minimal commonality against Nodoka's profile."

"I was six or seven at the time," Nodoka called out.

"Yes," Sanu agreed. "But the man was registered as a sperm donor and it seems there was a break-in at that hospital about ten months before Ranma was born."

"WHAT?" Nodoka screamed standing up. She held that position for five seconds before her eyes rolled up into her head and Ranma had to catch her. He helped her to her chair, ignoring his own shock.

Doctor Ono stood up. "That's impossible!" he said. "That's at least thirteen years of storage and Genma would have no idea how to thaw and implant the sperm properly!"

"No, but you would doctor," Sanu smirked.

"WHAT?" Tofu and Kasumi yelled.

"You have a 25% match with Ranma – i.e. you're his uncle or grandparent. I happen to know that you're his uncle. It was your brother that died in 1970." Tofu just looked stunned, so Sanu continued. "You graduated from medical school in 1982. You showed up in Nerima in 1987. Where were you for five years, Doctor? Specifically, where were you in 1983, when Ranma was conceived."

"He was doing his residency in Fukuoka, but you already knew that," a new voice chimed out from the back. The voice was old and creaky. An old woman shuffled down the stair aisle.

"Mother!" the doctor yelled out.

"Right on time, Mrs. Ohayashi – or rather, Mrs. Ono," Judge Sanu smirked looking at her and then turned back to Tofu. "That's right, Doctor. Your mother is also a 25% match with Ranma, as fitting a grandparent. I was going to make you Ranma's parent and guardian, but by your brother's will, your mother is his parent and guardian – you'll have to settle for being his brother legally."

The bailiffs were then busy for a while tending to a number of people who fainted, including Ranma, Akane, the rest of the Tendos, and Doctor Tofu.

* * *

Next up: The last chapter. I'm not sure if it will be called "The Happy Ending", "Answers", or "Akane's Realization." Let me know if you have an opinion.


	11. Answers and Revelations

Chapter 11: Answers and Revelations

Sanu had cleared the Court with the help of the bailiffs and the EMT's. Most people were in shock for the first fifteen minutes (once they came around). Then they would shake their heads for a couple of minutes. After that, they began to chuckle, and then to laugh. They usually laughed all the way home. Many of them who had submitted adoption applications were counting their blessings, wondering what they had been thinking. All of them were happy that Ranma had a family again (although Shizuka still had some reservations).

The new family sat in the courtroom with the Tendo family, Ranma's foster family, the judge, and Ryuu. Mrs. Kin Ono was repeating the story of how she was told that her eldest son's seed had been stolen so long ago and she suspected that one of her other son's classmates had been behind the theft. Given that Tofu was a successful doctor, his sperm – or the sperm of his brother (since Tofu's wasn't available) – was valuable for the thieves. According to the records, it matched several high profile thefts happening at the time (including one of Toshio Kuno's samples oddly enough). Given Genma's lifelong sterility, Mrs. Ono had suggested to Judge Sanu that her own profile be checked against Ranma on an off-chance that Genma had been in contact with the rogue doctor. Tofu just listened to his mother, but didn't say much. Sanu gloated that he was delighted to see an Ono stunned.

Finally, the judge produced the necessary documents and parental custody was transferred to Mrs. Ono who immediately declared that Tofu would be Ranma's day-to-day guardian. She was much too old to keep up with shape-shifter. "After all, my son has an extra bedroom in his place, and both my son and son/grandson share a strong attachment to the Tendo family – which I approve of, just so we are clear." Adjustments were made to the paperwork and then Sanu and Ryuu left to file it. Mrs. Ono turned to everyone and said: "Now, I think a nice celebration is in order."

"Oh, we could have it at the dojo. There's plenty of room there," Kasumi offered.

"Oh, that would be wonderful if it's all right with Mr. Tendo," Kin said.

"Since when do I get a say?" Soun asked.

"Behave, Daddy!" Nabiki said digging him in the ribs. "That sounds fine, Mrs. Ono."

"Then, why don't the rest of you head back now?" Tofu suggested. He handed a credit card to Maomolim. "Take a poll and order enough for all of us. You may want to add another dozen or so people to the count – I'm sure other people will be stopping by. Mother, Ranma, and I need to stop in the Hall of Records and make a few changes. Nodoka, as Ranma's birth mother, should be with us."

Akane spoke up: "Can I stay?" She obviously wanted to stay close to Ranma.

"I don't see why not," Tofu answered.

"All right," Kasumi answered. "We will see you shortly."

"No, you should probably stay too, Love. We won't be long," he said.

"O.K. Let's go," Soun ordered. He and everyone else noted that something wasn't quite right, but were confident that it would be – they had made it this far after all. They all trooped out of the hall on their way to the dojo.

Once they were gone, Tofu looked at his mother firmly: "All right, Nodoka and Ranma have the right to know the truth. There's no way Yuudai is Ranma's father. What the hell just happened?"

"Language, dear," Kin and Kasumi said at the same time.

Mrs. Ono continued: "But the CODIS test says otherwise dear. That's all Sanu needs to know."

"Bull," Tofu countered. "He already smells a rat. He's just happy enough to let things stand. That and he enjoys seeing me outmaneuvered, even if it was by my own mother."

"Smells a rat?" Mrs. Ono repeated with a small laugh. "He smells several. Not only that, he knows all their names, including mine. I told him he'd never get a valid CODIS result."

"As far as outmaneuvering you, better me than the Family Elders – they wanted to make you the father," she continued. "I convinced them that it would put you in a bad situation with Nodoka and Kasumi. When they were putting the lab back together last night, I had them swap in Yuudai's profile for yours. Better to have you one-off on the family tree. Besides, I liked the idea of Yuudai of having a son."

"Who is Yuudai?" Nodoka asked.

"He is my older brother, my much older brother. He died in a traffic accident a long while back. He was not in a sperm bank," Tofu insisted.

"That's not what the records say, dear," Kin told her son.

"Ono, who is your family that they can change records like that?" Nodoka demanded from the doctor.

"The Ono's are a small family. They are powerful family, but not that powerful – it's Mom's family that has the power. The Elders are a bunch of wizards – far beyond me – with a long reach," Tofu explained.

"That's too bad," Ranma commented to Ono. "I'd rather have you as my uncle than Genma as my father."

That thought seem to stun Nodoka for a minute. "That's true," Nodoka finally admitted. "All the same, it's nice to know I wasn't completely snookered by Genma."

"Ranma, Genma is not your father by any means provable. Leave it that way, dear," Kin insisted. Then the old woman took Nodoka's hands in hers. "Nodoka, you have a clean slate. Genma was never a proper husband to you. Now you can have a real life, and you can have your son. I plan on playing Grandmother to Ranma – and Akane. We both know I won't be in the way. I'm too old. Let the world think Genma pulled one over on you. Leave things be," Kin pleaded.

Nodoka looked like she wanted to be cross, but, after a few seconds, a thought seemed to strike her. Then she sighed and slumped a little. "The world already knows I was not in my right mind," she whispered. She paused and gave another sigh. "All right. We'll do things your way," she said with a little rueful laugh. Kin Ono smiled encouragingly at her. Nodoka shook the older woman's hands gently. Then Nodoka straightened up and added: "But I want answers first – all of them. So start talking."

"She's not the only one," Tofu added.

"All right," Kin agreed. "Sit down all of you." They did so and she started: "Genma recently became sterile because he angered the wrong person. This person – let's call her a magician – cast a spell on Genma so he'd never father another child. She didn't want anyone else to go through what Ranma did – or worse."

"While I usually don't approve of Eugenics, I can't really disagree with her," Kasumi said. The rest just nodded their heads.

"Her actions irreversibly removed certain pieces of his anatomy that made it look like Genma was always sterile," Kin continued. "Later on, when she learned about the Summoning and that Judge Sanu was investigating Ranma, she decided to try and break Ranma away from Genma. Apparently, she knew about Jusenkyo and Ranko's genome, so she lied and told Sanu that Genma was always sterile, so Ranma – or rather Ranko – couldn't be his child. When Sanu had the CODIS test run, lo and behold, Jusenkyo masked Ranma's genes and the test said Ranko and Genma were not related." Everyone just nodded their heads. "Unfortunately, this created a problem – the same one that Tanaka immediately recognized and seized on: if Ranma wasn't Genma's son, then it was possible for someone else to claim him. Even before Tanaka's declaration, the plotting and planning started everywhere – and I mean everywhere!"

Ranma looked confused. "Why?" he asked.

"Many different reasons, Ranma," Kin answered. "Not to add to your swelled head, but you are one of the most gifted Martial Artists of your generation. The same could be said for you as a Wind Mage. That's a lot of status for a family." Kin shrugged and continued: "Some saw you as a way to improve their bloodlines. Others saw you as someone who could help them out in their daily struggles." She smiled then. "However, even more importantly, you are well liked in this town and you have many friends and supporters. All of them saw Genma as a problem and wanted you away from him. The great majority of the plotters just wanted to help you."

Kin paused for a second thoughtfully and went on: "I won't say anyone planned on out-and-out killing Genma, although some people probably considered the idea and discarded it – Genma is too good at staying alive. I do know that there are a lot of copies of that dragon potion recipe floating around though. Hideo Jouda wasn't as careful as he should have been with his copy. Thanks heavens the ingredients are hard to get. But then the potion rebounded on Genma and people stopped plotting – everyone kicked into high gear instead. Within twenty-four hours of him getting locked as a panda, Genma's CODIS profile was destroyed and there wasn't an uncompromised shred of his DNA within all of Nerima. Even the Tendo house and dojo were swept clean."

"I don't suppose you know who broke into my clinic?" Tofu asked.

"I don't know all of them, but I do know Konatsu was one of them," Kin answered. "He only made a copy of Ranko's CODIS profile though."

"Konatsu? Why?" Akane asked.

"Because he knew enough to change Ranko's profile to a male," Kin explained. "He figured that was good enough to keep everyone out of Ranma's hair. It might have worked except for the battle at the lab and the fact that he didn't know he'd have to change the computer as well."

"There was a battle at the DNA lab?" Tofu asked with surprise.

"Oh yes," Kin laughed. "And that was only among the finalists! Many of the plotters never got that far! It was Konatsu versus Shampoo versus my Family Elders versus two mercenary ninjas – I don't know who sent them. The lab was torn to pieces!"

"You mean the Amazons are still after me?" Ranma asked.

"No," Kin replied firmly. "Cologne wants to leave you in peace. It's just Shampoo who tried to give you Amazon heritage. The silly girl never understood how the test really worked. She tried to swap your profile for Mousse's – who had no clue that he was being used."

"All right. So I need to watch out for Shampoo still," Ranma noted.

"And the Elders put the lab back together using magic," Tofu concluded.

"Yes, they did, dear. And they were going to add your profile to Ranma's in place of Genma's," Kin told him.

"But why bother?" Nodoka asked. "Judge Sanu said he was going to award custody to Tofu anyway."

"As of yesterday he was," Kin corrected. "Before that, not so much. Sanu is a little suspicious of the Ono family – with just cause I might add." Tofu cleared his throat and threw a meaningful look at his mother. "The judge was really planning on a married couple – not a single doctor."

"Why does your family want Ranma?" Akane asked.

"For the same reason they want you, young lady," Kin said directly. Akane started in surprise. "They want both of you to continue to train under Tofu. The two of you are too powerful to leave to chance. They also want you both to look favorably upon them for later alliances – they hoped that giving Ranma a suitable parent would do it."

"All right, but why did Judge Sanu change his mind?" Ranma asked.

Kin took a deep breath. "Here's where I enter the picture," she started. "When I found out about Ranma's adoption, I had a chat with the judge. Sanu was reluctant to listen to me, but at least he heard me out – it probably helped that I initially introduced myself as Mrs. Ohayashi instead of Mrs. Ono. I explained that Ranma would never have any peace until the DNA issue was resolved. There were too many players out there that could change the databases – after all, they had made Genma's profile vanish. I also insisted that Ranma did not need a traditional family – he needed a big brother. Sanu and I argued over that point for a while, each insisting that they knew best. Finally, I made a wager with the judge: I would name six people/families that Ranma would pick as his new family. If I was right with at least four of them, then I knew Ranma better than Sanu did and Sanu had to agree with Ranma's first choice no matter who it was. Also, Sanu had to stay away from the lab on Thursday night and accept whatever result came out of the lab on Friday, so long as it did not contradict Ranma's choice – or at least could be made to fit Ranma's choice. I think Sanu went along with the wager because he was intrigued that I believed I could close the DNA issue."

"You're leaving things out," Tofu said. "And what did you wager against the right of decision? You had to put something up – Sanu has an obsessive compulsion for the 'fair deal'."

Kin shrugged. "You don't need to hear a blow-by-blow account of what I said. Besides, I won the wager, so it doesn't matter what I wagered." Tofu gave her a hard look, but she went on: "Sanu accepted of his own free will," she said. Then she looked directly at Ranma: "Tofu was your first choice, wasn't he?"

Ranma looked slightly embarrassed, but nodded his head. Nodoka gave a little smile as Tofu put a hand on Ranma's shoulder and said softly: "So be it, little brother." Ranma just nodded again. Akane had tears standing in her eyes while Kasumi just gave her mysterious smile.

Kin smiled as well and continued: "After my talk with Sanu, I approached the Elders and told them of my wager. I said that if I was successful, I needed their help to swap in Yuudai's profile. I found out later that they had their own plans to set up Tofu as Ranma's biological parent, which was a disastrous idea – way too many problems. Yesterday, I stopped them from carrying out their plan and had them check that I had won the wager with Sanu. Once they learned that I had, I managed to convince them that I knew what I was doing and they used Yuudai's profile instead of Tofu's. Now we had a neat, elegant solution – the DNA issue was laid to rest and Ranma was given his first choice of a family."

"I'm not sure it's neat or elegant," Kasumi said. "But one cannot argue with the results."

"This is true," Kin laughed. "So that's the story and here we are."

"So where do we go from here?" Nodoka asked.

"That's easy," Kin grinned at her sitting audience. "We go to dinner, and I get to celebrate with my son..." Kin kissed Tofu's forehead. "…my daughter-in-law…" She kissed Kasumi's forehead. "…my grandson…" She kissed Ranma's forehead. "…my granddaughter-in-law…" She kissed Akane's forehead. "…and my first daughter-in-law." She kissed Nodoka's forehead. Nodoka's eyes widened in surprise as Kin's grin continued. "If I get him," Kin said while pointing at Ranma and before Nodoka could say anything else. "I get you too."

"What?" Nodoka said incredulously, although there was a smile on Nodoka's face as she was beginning to warm to this crazy old woman.

"You're his mother – you're listed in the Ono Family rolls as such," Kin replied with a sparkle in her eyes.

"And how does that work?" Nodoka shot back challengingly.

"Easy. You're listed as a Ghost Bride," Kin told her.

"WHAT?" Nodoka half-laughed/half-shouted. The rest of party looked stunned by Kin's words.

"It's a nice respectable family position. We listed Ranma truthfully as your direct son and made him Yuudai's heir – not that there is anything to inherit, but details," Kin said with a wave of her hand.

"We are not Chinese and I am not having a Ghost Wedding!" Nodoka laughed.

"Of course not, dear, this is modern Japan after all. When you find the man of your dreams, we want to be able to give you a nice Ghost Divorce – you can't do that with a real Ghost Wedding. Still, it looks good and maintains both the Saotome's and Ono's Family Honor. More importantly, you're listed as Ranma's mother again on the Family rolls," Kin replied airily. "And I get another daughter-in-law out of this." Nodoka's jaw was stuck open as she looked at Kin.

Tofu was holding his forehead while shaking his head. "Sadao came up with this, didn't he?" the doctor asked. Kin just nodded her head.

"Who?" Ranma asked.

"Sadao is our eldest cousin in the Ono family," Tofu explained while still shaking his head and starting to laugh. "He's also the head of the Ono family and extremely creative. The Family Tree looks like a pretzel made by someone with a severe attention deficit disorder."

Kin grabbed Nodoka's hands. "What do you say, Nodoka? Let us keep you on the rolls until you decide to marry. Ranma needs to use the Ono name for now, but you can keep the Saotome name – we are not greedy and it will make the Saotomes happy as well. Come join your son!"

Nodoka continued to stare at Kin for a few moments with her mouth hanging open. Then she began to laugh. After a little more of this, she shot forward and grabbed the old woman in a hug. "This sounds ridiculous! There's not a shred of legality or tradition to back this up, but all right. Again, we will do things your way for now – Mother."

Kin Ono laughed and returned the hug joyously. "Good!" she said. "Now it's time to join the rest." She broke the hug and everyone stood up. "And I can scold my son for being clueless," Kin finished.

"Oh, and how was I clueless?" Tofu asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kin linked arms with her son and led the way out of the hall. Akane took Ranma's hand while Kasumi and Nodoka followed at the rear. Nodoka linked arms with Kasumi. It was obvious the elder woman had something to say to the younger one, but she wanted to hear what the Onos said first.

Kin looked at her son. "Tofu?" she asked. "How many of the Family are in Nerima?"

"Well, there are three right now," he answered.

"And how many live here on a full time basis?" she followed up.

"I'm going to say one, and you're going to tell me I'm wrong," he replied.

"You are – there's another one of the Family within 200 meters of the clinic, and she's been there for the last three years, keeping an eye on you," Kin told him.

A suspicion began to grow in the back of Ranma's mind. "No, it can't be," he thought. Akane paused for a second and had a thoughtful look on her face.

Kin Ono continued: "She's been hiding from you, trying to see if you would notice her. It's been one of the many Games she has been using to amusing herself."

Tofu replied: "There's no way a full-blooded K- Family member has been hiding from me – I'd find her. Plus, she would have had to respond to the Call I issued last Spring."

"I didn't say she was full-blooded, dear," Kin scolded him. "You're not so good at detecting the non-full-bloods.

"Ranma, what are they talking about?" Akane asked him. Ranma just looked at her with one eyebrow raised. The Game between herself and Ranma immediately rose into Akane's mind. There was a secret – a big secret about Tofu. Ranma, Kasumi, and her father knew. She knew Tofu was a mage as well as a doctor – a powerful mage at that, but that wasn't the secret. "Something to do with his ancestry maybe? Something about his blood? Something that started with K? Something his mother is as well?" she thought. (1)

Ranma's mind was already plunging down another path. "It's a she," he thought. "She's not a full-blood, which means that she's part-human. Depending on how much Kitsune blood she has, she's probably decent at illusion and shape-shifting. She also likes to play Games. The Games would often be pranks; small harmless things…ah crap!"

Kasumi's mind was likewise racing. "She didn't correct him when he said 'three right now', but I know there's Tofu, Tomo, and now Kin," Kasumi thought. "Where's the other one right now? I'll bet she hasn't left Nerima either… Oh no. No, no, no. That's not fair at all."

"It's her," Ranma said out loud. "The water ladle ninja. She never bloody misses me no matter what I do. She's only a couple of blocks away from the clinic. She is not half-blind and half-deaf. It's a disguise."

"It's worse than that Ranma," Kasumi added. "She's been playing lots of Games, and she hasn't been playing fair. Not just with you; she's been busting her own son's chops from time-to-time. The last Game I know of was the Bridal Game she played with her son. She got Nabiki and Akane to play as well." (2)

"But that was with Tofu and that was…" Akane started and then stopped. She placed a hand on Kin's shoulder. "That was with you, Mrs. Ono. You are a mage, just like your son."

Ranma didn't know whether to laugh or cry for a moment. Finally, he picked the former and asked: "Why me?"

Kin looked behind at the young man and laughed. "Oh, come on now, Ranma! You can guess. That and I wanted to teach you patience. Since you are not screaming down the house, it worked. And I'm sorry Akane, but you are only partially right. It was me, but I am not a mage like my son. He has powers far beyond me, even if he is blind as a bat. And you already know that Tofu is a mage – that's not relevant to your Game with Ranma."

Akane was not surprised that Mrs. Ono knew about the Game, so she said: "I'm close though. It's something you and your son share and it has to do with magic." No one answered her. For once, that didn't make Akane angry – it meant she was on the right track. Nodoka said nothing; she just watched them all curiously.

Tofu laughed. "Kasumi's right," he answered. "You haven't been playing fair – it's more than being a half-blood. You know my mind better than anyone. You know my blind-spots – you've been hiding in them, even though you've been living only a few blocks away."

"And you should be working to fix them, lad!" she scolded him fiercely. "I almost lost you once. I won't lose you again. And soon you will have a young wife to take care of. You already have a nephew/brother now. You too need to grow! This Game goes on until you can find me." She turned to Ranma again. "And you're not off the hook either, Ranma Ono. You too will have a wife you must take care off – even if she can level mountains. Our Game goes on – possibly forever. Or at least until you can successfully dodge me on a regular basis." She looked at Kasumi and Akane and said: "You have been warned ladies. I will find a Game for my young in-laws to play as well. Be on your guard!"

"Does that include me as well, Mrs. Ono?" Nodoka challenged.

Kin laughed. "I am 'Kin' to you, Nodoka. And, for things to work, there can be no Games between us. Besides, you've seen enough Games in your life. It's time for a rest." Nodoka just smiled at that.

The group of six left the building and walked out into the early evening light. As they stepped onto the street, a young red-headed boy, perhaps twelve years old ran up to them. "Aunt Kin," he shouted. "The Elders offered their congratulations on the adoption."

Kasumi looked at the boy and winced. Tomo looked very close to his Kitsune self. She wondered if Ranma…

"YOU!" Ranma shouted. "I still owe you for the crème pie!" (3)

"Hail Pie-Face! Ready for the next course?" Tomo grinned at him. "Race you to the dojo!" Ranma answered by firing a small, (mostly) harmless ball of Chi at him. The little Kitsune dodged it easily and ran off laughing with Ranma in hot pursuit. Truth be known, Ranma didn't look that unhappy either.

"Aunt Kin?" Tofu questioned his mother.

"Tomo is my full-blooded sister's son. He's your cousin, lad. One of many mind you, so that's not so remarkable," she answered. "He was amused to find himself assigned to you."

"That's weird," Akane said. "He looks just like the Kitsune from the Complex; the one who hit Ranma with a crème pie and then took off. It's even weirder that he has the same name and Ranma mentioned a crème pie."

Nodoka looked at Akane in puzzlement, and then her eyes widened. She turned quickly to look at Tofu and his mother. Her mouth opened in surprise and she looked a little stunned. Tofu held a finger to his lips and turned to look at Akane.

Akane continued to look confused. Finally, Kasumi took her sister's head in her hands and said gently: "Akane, how are you and Nabiki sisters?" The blue-black haired girl just looked at her sister. Kasumi went on: "I think the problem is that you always look for the normal/mundane answer, despite the fact you're surrounded by magic. You need to expand your imagination. Dream, Akane! You're a Fire Mage in love with a Wind Mage. Both of you regularly tell the Laws of Physics to 'get stuffed'. You've met dragons and phoenixes. You know that legends live and myths are real. You're an extraordinary girl in an extraordinary world. Dream!"

Akane shook her head. "But that would mean that you're engaged to a Kitsu…" Akane started and then stopped. She looked deep into Kasumi's knowing look. "Oh my god…" she said before all the implications came crashing down on her and her eyes rolled up in her head. Kasumi had to guide her gently to the ground.

* * *

Akane sat on top of the house roof alone. Every now and then, she would look at her face in a hand mirror, sigh, and put the mirror down again. She also watched as Ranma, Ryoga, Ukyo, Konatsu, and Mousse tore down the street chasing a bouncing laughing little Kitsune, who had managed to prank all of them. The five were determined to find out if it was possible to give a Kitsune a wedgie. The parade passed by every five minutes or so. Akari and/or Nabiki would wander out every now and then to check on the posse's progress.

The house below was still alive with people, although many folks had gone home. The adults were chatting and laughing, relieved that Ranma was him/herself again, Genma was no longer an issue, and Judge Sanu had been brought into the fold. "Just the end of another day in Nerima," Akane sighed again.

"Kasumi had said 'You're an extraordinary girl in an extraordinary world'," she thought. "I blamed Ranma for everything weird in my life, and then decided I'd rather have the weird if it meant I got to keep Ranma. Now I find out, it's not his fault: it's mine. My life was weird before he ever got here. He's a chaos magnet, but, in this case, he was drawn to me, not me to him." She looked at herself in the mirror again. Time past…

"Hi ya!" Ranma shouted as he landed cat-neat in front of her.

She couldn't help it – she burst out in a smile to see her rogue in front of her. "Did you finally catch Tomo?" she asked.

"Yep, it took all five of us, but I'm proud to report it is possible to give a Kitsune a wedgie!" he said beaming. "At least until he remembers he is a Kitsune and teleports out of there. But we consider that a success anyway. Tomo's hiding by Kasumi right now, so I think we made our point." Akane just giggled at that, and then her face became pensive again. Ranma reached out and cupped her chin. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"Ranma, I'm sorry," she said.

The young man looked surprised. "What do you have to be sorry for?" he asked.

"I blamed you for all the craziness in my life, but it's not true. My life was crazy before you ever showed up," she confessed.

He laughed and sat down next to her. Then he pulled her into an embrace. "Is that all? Feh. You're forgiven. It's not like I don't add to the madness. Do you forgive me?" he asked impishly.

"Ranma, I'm being serious!" she said insistently.

He sobered up a little and replied: "Yeah, I know. I'm trying to shut it down before you break-up with me."

She started to say mournfully: "Why would you want to be with me when…", but Ranma leaned in and cut her off with a kiss. He put more and more into the kiss until she responded. Then he forced her to lie back against the roof and continued the kiss.

When he finally stopped, he said: "Because I love you, little idiot. You are exciting, sweet, proud, thoughtful, strong, and beautiful. As far as the Chaos goes, that only makes you more desirable. I am the Chaos King – I need a Chaos Queen like you."

"Little idiot?" she protested sharply.

"Yes – when you even start thinking I might need protection from you, or that you are somehow a burden in my life, you are being a little idiot," he told her bluntly. "I love you, Akane. My life will always be crazy. So will yours. Being apart won't change it. Isn't it better if we face the craziness together?"

Akane looked deep into the blue eyes hovering over her and felt something crystallize inside her. "Ranma Ono, will you marry me?" she asked seriously.

Ranma looked down at her in surprise. "I thought you wanted your courtship?" he asked.

"I want you more," she told him.

"You can have both," he grinned at her. "We have over a year until we turn twenty. I still should get you a proper ring."

"But I want you as my fiancé now. Will you marry me?" she persisted.

Ranma thought about it for all of a second. "Fine. Yes, I will marry you Akane Tendo, but we still have to wait a little bit," he answered. "We have a new busybody in our life and we need to break her in."

Akane laughed at that and hugged him tightly. When she stopped, she asked: "Do you think Tofu will make you move to the clinic now?"

"Probably, but I'm not too concerned. He'll make me sleep there, but we will both be spending most of our time here at the dojo. Besides, he doesn't fool me – he spends at least three nights a week here."

"What?!" Akane exclaimed.

"My, my. You haven't been paying attention, have you?" he teased her. "It will be hard for him to scold me about Ranko creeping into your bed when I know he isn't using a female shape to crawl into Kasumi's bed." Akane's face was beet red now.

She recovered though and asked: "And what about Ranma crawling into my bed?"

Ranma seemed stunned for a moment but recovered quickly. "That's a new question," he commented slyly drawing closer to her. "Are you sure you're ready for that?"

"Well, not quite yet," she admitted, sure that Ranma felt the same way. "But it is an intriguing possibility for the near future."

"Oh yes it is, Miss Tendo. Yes, it is. Shall we discuss it further?" he asked, a huskiness entering into his voice.

"Keep your hands above the waist, Mr. Ono" she said, although passion was rising in her own voice as well.

"I'll try," he responded, "but no promises." Then he kissed her.

"Now there's a bluff I know I can call," she thought before giving herself over to the kiss.

* * *

Kimiko materialized before the Book of Life again with the Pen. Carefully, she turned once more to Ranma's Page. The first line on the Page read "Ranma of Nerima" in big bold letters as it had since the Page appeared in the Book. (4) The next line was much smaller, and read "Ranma". Next to the first name was a blank space that had once read "Saotome", but there was no evidence of that now. Into that space, Kimiko slowly wrote the name "Ono". As she carefully completed the last character, the page glowed briefly and the ink instantly dried, sealing the writing. She smiled, happy that her work was successful. She then looked at the page, reading some of its Contents.

Suddenly, she noticed that the Page changed and re-arranged itself slightly, opening a line just above "Ranma Ono". This startled her a little until she realized what it signified. Smiling again, she started to lift the Pen toward the Page until the Voice sounded in her ear.

"Not yet," whispered the Voice with amusement. "All in good time."

"But…" she started to protest.

"You are as impatient now as you were in life, Little One," the Voice teased while laughing. "All in good time," the Voice repeated.

"But it will happen, Sir, won't it?" she practically begged.

"Why else have I placed Ranma's Page under the care of the Tendo Family Guardian?" the Voice laughed.

* * *

A/N: Footnotes:

(1) Ranma's and Akane's Game started in Chapter 5 of "The Date."  
(2) This occurred in episode 14, season one, of the Anime.  
(3) Tomo hit Ranma with a crème pie in Chapter 8 of "The Date."  
(4) Hence why Maomolin called him that way back in "Brothers", Chapter 11, while Ryoga was called "Ryoga Hibiki".

* * *

A/N: And done (finally). I cannot believe so many of you had the patience to stay with me since I started to publish this three-part story last January. Thank you for reading this!

I usually have Epilogues after a story, but I decided against it. What I have doesn't match the tone of this story and I like ending this story cleanly – life can get messy again later.

So, now that this little trilogy is complete, I'd like to thank everyone who offered encouragement and/or advice through the journey. This includes (in no particular order): Taechunsa, Wharpt, Compucles, gort240, leoness, goldplatium, jaqjaq123, Richard Ryley, TL, Flameraven1, KaraOhki, cloundshadow, Dee Bryant, TopKat90, BobV, Ranmayamabushi, James Birdsong, goddessa39, UrixMoonstone, PurseMonger, Rose1948, Saggit, Kittychan H, XStylus, kemdana, maryjane5000, Chaosqueen, Fluffbeast, weebee, mareanbeast, Jeremy Harper, Blackholelord, Contramancer, own son, Signdowney, BiGDeal, Ranmamania, Ruby Dogwood of Shadytown, Pata Hikari, Y2Ranma, Queendiva, The Keeper of Worlds, The Unknown GPX, and the various Guests. I really appreciate everyone's feedback!

Next up, I have some short stories for the next few weeks and then a Nabiki-centric story. I figured it might be fun to see how the middle Tendo daughter is adjusting to college (and just how she developed her "Stealth Mode" that she demo'ed in "Combustion"). It also might be interesting to see if the Yakuza ever bothered her again…

* * *

A/N: 11/4/14: Added a few corrections to the above "Author's Note" found by weebee.


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